


Gods reading Percy Jackson and the lightning thief

by GabrielaSouza34



Series: Percy Jackson [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Books, F/F, F/M, Future Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:54:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 95,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22819615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GabrielaSouza34/pseuds/GabrielaSouza34
Summary: The Olympian gods, and some of the lesser gods, will read about the life of our dear seaweed head
Relationships: Hades/Persephone (Percy Jackson), Hades/Poseidon/Zeus (Percy Jackson)
Series: Percy Jackson [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1301405
Comments: 9
Kudos: 71





	1. Introduction and the goddess of destiny

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve finished the entire Olympian Saga, and I’m writing gods reading Heroes of Olympus  
> Good reading!

Percy Jackson was born in 1993.  
The big three stopped having children at the end of World War II (1945), when the Great Prophecy came.

Characters  
Zeus  
Poseidon  
Hades  
Athena  
Dionysus.  
Ares  
Artemis  
Apollo  
Demeter  
Persephone  
Hermes  
Hecate  
Hestia  
Nemesis  
Ivy.  
Hephaestus  
Chiron

The goddess of destiny

Hecate, also called Persia, was the daughter of the titans Astéria - the starry night and Perses - the god of lust and destruction, but she was raised by Persephone - the queen of hell, where she lived. Hecate used to live on Olympus, but he aroused his mother's wrath when he stole a pot of carmine. She fled to the earth and, becoming unclean, was taken to darkness to be purified. Living in Hades, she presided over the purification and atonement ceremonies and rituals. Hecate in Greek means "the distant".  
She is represented either with three bodies or with one body and three heads, with a tiara with a lunar crescent on her forehead, one or two torches in her hands and serpents wrapped around her neck. Its three faces symbolize the virgin, the mother and the old lady. Having the power to look in three directions at the same time, she could see the destiny, the past, the present and what could harm in the future. The three faces came to symbolize their power over the underworld, helping the goddess Persephone to judge the dead.


	2. The prophecy

Camp Half-Blood-1945.

Chiron was galloping in the forest of the camp, he wanted time alone to think, he could feel in his gut that something was wrong, and one of the key reasons was the second world war that was taking place, the demigods sons of the great three, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon, took sides in the battle, he thanked the fog that deceived mortals, because things were catastrophic. I just prayed that this war would not be delayed.  
And that damn sensation, which he did not abandon. For days he was feeling he should visit her. The Prophecy, which he will receive three months from the Oracle and hid, felt that it was not the time to open it, but he knew it was now time, he felt it was something that would change everything, but I could be afraid.  
He went to the mansion, more precisely in his room, where there was a false bottom in the wardrobe, and she was, a brown, old, and fragile parchment, in his hands Quiron felt that he was going to dismantle, so he opened it to read.

"A half-blood of the ancient gods, son, will reach sixteen despite obstacles. In an endless sleep the world will be, and the hero's soul, the cursed blade, will reap. A choice your days must end, Olympus raze or preserve."

Quiron quickly wrapped the parchment and ran to Pinochet's table.  
-Dionysus, we need to schedule a meeting urgently now, with all the gods.  
-Quiron, I'm taking a diet cook, and ...- He stopped when he saw the centaur's horror face-What happened?  
-A prophecy, a terrible Prophecy.  
-I'm going to warn everyone, go travel to Olympus-Said Dionysus, and disappeared.  
Chiron then made his journey to Olympus, and when he got there he found Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes, Artemis, Apollo, Demeter, Ares, Dionysus, sitting on their thrones, and on a smaller throne on Demeter's side was his daughter Persephone. The centaur noticed that some were anxious and worried, others did not care, and showed that they did not want to be there. The only relaxed one was Apolo, for now  
"Why did this meeting, Chiron?" Asked Zeus in his loud voice.  
"I hope it's important," said Ares. "I was busy watching mortal war. Germany is powerful."  
-My gods, what I have to say is something horrible, I couldn't wait, something that will destroy Olympus  
-How is Centaur? -Hera inquired.  
-I, I received a prophecy from your oracle Lord Apollo, that of Delphi-Said Quiron, holding the prophecy in his hands.  
"Well, read it," ordered Apollo.  
Camp Half-Blood-1945.

Chiron was galloping in the forest of the camp, he wanted time alone to think, he could feel in his gut that something was wrong, and one of the key reasons was the second world war that was taking place, the demigods sons of the great three, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon, took sides in the battle, he thanked the fog that deceived mortals, because things were catastrophic. I just prayed that this war would not be delayed.  
And that damn sensation, which he did not abandon. For days he was feeling he should visit her. The Prophecy, which he will receive three months from the Oracle and hid, felt that it was not the time to open it, but he knew it was now time, he felt it was something that would change everything, but I could be afraid.  
He went to the mansion, more precisely in his room, where there was a false bottom in the wardrobe, and she was, a brown, old, and fragile parchment, in his hands Quiron felt that he was going to dismantle, so he opened it to read.

"A half-blood of the ancient gods, son, will reach sixteen despite obstacles. In an endless sleep the world will be, and the hero's soul, the cursed blade, will reap. A choice your days must end, Olympus raze or preserve."

Quiron quickly wrapped the parchment and ran to Pinochet's table.  
-Dionysus, we need to schedule a meeting urgently now, with all the gods.  
-Quiron, I'm taking a diet cook, and ...- He stopped when he saw the centaur's horror face-What happened?  
-A prophecy, a terrible Prophecy.  
-I'm going to warn everyone, go travel to Olympus-Said Dionysus, and disappeared.  
Chiron then made his journey to Olympus, and when he got there he found Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes, Artemis, Apollo, Demeter, Ares, Dionysus, sitting on their thrones, and on a smaller throne on Demeter's side was his daughter Persephone. The centaur noticed that some were anxious and worried, others did not care, and showed that they did not want to be there. The only relaxed one was Apolo, for now  
"Why did this meeting, Chiron?" Asked Zeus in his loud voice.  
"I hope it's important," said Ares. "I was busy watching mortal war. Germany is powerful."  
-My gods, what I have to say is something horrible, I couldn't wait, something that will destroy Olympus  
-How is Centaur? -Hera inquired.  
-I, I received a prophecy from your oracle Lord Apollo, that of Delphi-Said Quiron, holding the prophecy in his hands.  
"Well, read it," ordered Apollo.

"A half-blood of the ancient gods son, will reach sixteen despite obstacles

-A hero, my son, of Zeus or Poseidon-Said Hades.

. In an endless sleep the world will be, and the hero's soul, the cursed blade, will reap.

-He starts dying-Said Dionísio gladly, he hated being in the camp, with those "heroes".

A choice your days must end, Olympus wipe out or preserve. "

-What? Destroy us, a simple hero? -Hermes said.  
"We have to avoid that," said Artemis, frightened.  
"There is a way," said Zeus. "We cannot risk it, the prophecy is clear, a son of the big three, he will turn sixteen and he will destroy us before he dies."  
-Or save-Said Persephone  
-Who guarantees me? - I already have the solution - Said Zeus - We, the big three, will not have more children.  
-Are you sure brother? -Hades said.  
-It's the only way - said Poseidon-It is difficult, but I prefer not to have children, than to end up like the Titans.  
-So it is done, the children we have had so far, under the age of sixteen must die, we cannot risk it.  
Nico and Bianca. Hades thought. I won't kill them. But what do I do? .

-I, Zeus, Lord of the gods, swear by the River Styx, that I will never have children with a mortal, ever again.  
-I, Poseidon, I swear by the River Styx, that I will never again have children with a mortal.  
-I Hades, I swear by the River Estige that I will never have children again, with a mortal.  
-Ready, this prophecy must be guarded in total safety, and let's forget this, because it will never come true-ordered Hera.  
-Never say never- said a voice entering the Hall.  
-Hecate? How dare you come in here? "Roared Zeus, thunder sounded everywhere." You are not a dozen, you cannot step here.  
-Go back to Hades-Sent Persephone.  
-Go for me, I did not want to be here, I vowed never to step on this place-exclaimed Hecate-But I saw things, more precisely the future, and it has to do with you.  
-Future? Continue-Apollo, the god of prophecy, became interested.  
-Quiet brother-Said Artemis-She is breaking our laws, a minor in Olympus.  
-You are forgetting dear Artemis, that I am much older than you, and I have lived here, I know the laws of color and saluted, but what I saw needs to be said.  
"Proceed, depending on what it is, don't incinerate yourself," said Zeus.  
-I saw the future, the life of a certain demigod, I never got so tall, I was in a trance for three days, when I woke up, I had books around me, and a pen in my hand, while I was unconscious, I recorded everything I saw .  
"And why, are we going to read about a demigod?" Said Hermes.  
-I can't say that, I just see the prophecies.  
-So let's start reading.  
-Yes, Lord Zeus, but before allowing me, I brought people to read with us, they are important.  
\- Who do you want to know Dionísio.  
-The lesser goddesses Nemesis and Hestia.  
-Everyone in favor? - Zeus asked, and most agreed - Well, I hope I don't waste my time reading about any demigod.  
-Go for me, don't go. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief Leu Hecate.  
-RAYS? I hope it's not my rays-warned Zeus.  
-Remembering that, these books are 48 years in the future.


	3. Chapter 1

Without meaning to, I transform my algebra initiation teacher to Leu Hecate into powder.  
-But in? -Demeter said.  
-It must be a monster, they will come dust-Said Athena-But, who kills unintentionally?

Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.

"They never want to," said Hermes. "And I don't blame them."  
-But they love fame, they don't like it, but when they start to become famous, to defeat Monsters, the opinion changes-Said Dionísio-They are ungrateful.

If you're reading this because you think it might be one, my advice is this: close this book right now. Believe any lie your mother or father told you about your birth, and try to live a normal life.  
Being half-blooded is dangerous. That's scary. Most of the time, it ends up with us in a painful and hateful way.

-Dramatic-Said Apollo, does not remind you of someone Zeus  
"Don't test my patience," said Zeus.  
-But he is right, it is very dangerous-Said Hermes -The way they die.

If you are a normal child, who is reading this because you think it is fiction, great. Keep reading. I envy him for being able to believe that none of this happened. But, if you recognize yourself in these pages - if you feel something exciting inside - stop reading immediately. You can be one of us. And once you hear about it, it's only a matter of time before they feel it, too, and come after you.  
Don't say I didn't warn you.  
My name is Percy Jackson.  
I am twelve years old. Until a few months ago, he was a student at a boarding school, the Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled children in upstate New York.

-The classic, let's guess who he is son-Said Hades-We know that, it cannot be mine, nor De Zeus and Poseidon.

Am I a problem child? Yes. You can say that.  
I could go from any point in my short, unhappy life to prove it, but things started to go really bad last May, when our sixth-year class went on a tour of Manhattan - twenty-eight hallucinating children and two teachers on a yellow school bus going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to observe Greek and Roman junk.

Everyone was interested.

I know, it looks like torture.

-My son he is not-Said Athena-Torture ?!  
\- Even I like it - Said Apolo - After all it is us, our stories, I even feel a haiku coming.  
-I cut your head-Threatened Artemis-Me and my hunters are fed up.

Most of Yancy's excursions were. But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this tour, so I was hopeful.  
Mr. Brunner was a middle-aged man in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair, a scruffy beard, and he wore a worn tweed coat that always smelled of coffee. You might not think it was cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in the classroom. He also had an impressive collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.

-Quiron !!  
-I'm actually me-said the Centaur-But it's strange, I'm only going personally, when he's a powerful demigod.  
-Go see, you were already at school, before Percy-Nemesis said.  
I hoped that everything went well on the tour. At least I hoped I wouldn't be in trouble this time.  
Dude, how wrong I was.  
Understand: bad things happen to me on school trips. Like at my fifth grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, and I had that American Revolution cannon crash. I was not pointing at the school bus, but of course I was kicked out just the same.

-Interesting-Said Ares-It could be mine, destroying heritage, cannons.

And before that, in fourth grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the shark tank in the Marine World, and I somehow pulled the wrong lever on the bridge and our class took an unexpected shower. And before that ... Well, you can get an idea.  
On this trip, I was determined to be nice.  
All the way to the city I endured Nancy Bobofit, that freckled red-haired kleptomaniac, hitting the neck of my best friend, Grover, with pieces of peanut butter sandwich with ketchup.  
Grover was an easy target. He was skinny. I cried when I got frustrated. He should have repeated years many times, because he was the only one in sixth grade who had pimples and a thin beard starting to grow on his chin. On top of that, he was crippled. He had a certificate that exempted him from physical education for the rest of his life, because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked in a funny way, as if every step hurt, but don't be fooled by that. You need to watch it run when it's the enchilada day in the canteen.

-I think it is a Satyr-Said Poseidon.

Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing sandwich balls that stuck to his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't fight back, because I was already being watched, at the risk of being expelled. The principal had threatened me with death with a suspension "at school" (that is, not being able to attend classes, but having to attend school and being locked in a room doing homework) in case something bad, embarrassing or even moderately fun happened. during the tour.  
"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.

"One more point, Ares," said Zeus, laughing.

Grover tried to calm me down.  
\- It's all right. I like peanut butter.  
He dodged another piece of Nancy's snack.  
\- Now that's enough.  
I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back into the seat.  
"You're already being watched," he reminded me. - You know you will be guilty if something happens.  
When he reminded me of that, I would rather have hit Nancy Bobofit on the spot. The school suspension would have been nothing compared to the trouble I was about to get into.  
Mr. Brunner guided the tour of the museum.  
He took the lead in his wheelchair, leading us through the large echoing galleries, past marble statues and glass cases filled with very old black and orange ceramics.  
I was delusional just thinking that those things had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.  
He gathered us around a stone column four meters high and a big sphinx on top, and started to explain that it was a tombstone, a stele, made for a girl about our age

-I remember her-Said Quiron sadly.

. He told us about the side inscriptions. I was trying to hear what he had to say, because it was a little interesting, but everyone around me was talking, and every time I said to shut up, the other teacher who accompanied us, Mrs. Dodds, looked at me frowning.  
Mrs. Dodds was that math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, despite being fifty years old

-She is the monster-Said Aphrodite.

. It looked bad enough to get a Harley bike into its closet. I had arrived in Yancy in the middle of the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.  
From day one, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and concluded that I had been raised by the devil. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey", with the utmost sweetness, and I knew I was going to be detained after class for a month.  
Once, after she had me erase answers in old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover that I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was a person. He looked at me very seriously and said:  
\- You are absolutely right.  
Mr. Brunner went on to talk about Greek funerary art.  
Finally, Nancy Bobofit, stifling laughter, said something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned and said:  
\- Do you want to shut up?  
It came out louder than I intended.  
The entire group laughed. Mr. Brunner interrupted his story.  
"Mr. Jackson," he said, "have you made any comments?"  
My face was completely red.  
\- No sir.  
Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the figures on the stele.  
\- Maybe you can tell us what this figure represents.  
I looked at the carved image and felt a wave of relief, because I had actually recognized it.  
\- It's Cronos eating the kids, right?

"Don't even remind us of that," said Hera.

"Yes," said Mr. Brunner, and he was obviously not satisfied. - And he did it because ...  
\- Well ... - I broke my head to remember. - Cronos was the god-king and ...

-What???!!  
-King?

\- King God? Asked Mr Brunner.  
\- Titan - I corrected myself. - And ... he did not trust his children, who were the gods. So, um, Cronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus and gave Cronos a stone to eat instead. And then, when Zeus grew up, he cheated on his father, Cronos, and made him vomit his brothers and sisters.  
\- Ew! - said one of the girls behind me.  
\- ... and then there was that big fight between the gods and the titans - I continued - and the gods won.  
Some giggles from the group.  
Behind me, Nancy Bobofit murmured to a friend:  
\- As if we were going to use this in real life. As if to speak in our job interviews: "Please explain why Cronos ate his children."

-Not for mere mortals, but for heroes it is very important to know about all this - said Hecate.

"And why, Mr. Jackson," said Mr. Brunner, "to paraphrase Miss. Bobofit, does it matter in real life?  
"Got screwed," muttered Grover.  
"Shut up," hissed Nancy, her face even redder than her hair.  
At least Nancy was also framed. Mr. Brunner was the only one who caught her saying something wrong. He had radar ears.  
I thought about his question, and shrugged.  
\- I don't know, sir.  
\- I understand. - Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. - Well, half a point, Mr. Jackson. Zeus, in fact, gave Cronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him vomit the other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, were living and growing undigested in the titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, cutting him to pieces with their own scythe and scattering the remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. And with that cheerful comment, it's lunchtime. Mrs. Dodds, do you want to take us back outside?  
The class was withdrawn, the girls holding their bellies, the boys pushing each other and acting like fools.  
Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said:  
\- Mr. Jackson.  
I knew what was coming next.  
I told Grover to get going. So I turned to the teacher.  
\- Sir?  
Mr. Brunner had that look that won't let you go - intense brown eyes that could be a thousand years old and have seen it all.

-He knows you well-Said Aphrodite-Seems to like you.

"You need to learn to answer my question," he said.  
\- About the Titans?  
\- About real life. And how your studies apply to it.  
\- Ah.  
"What you learn from me," he said, "is of vital importance. I hope you will treat the matter as such. From you, I will accept only the best, Percy Jackson.  
I wanted to be angry, that guy put too much pressure on me.  
I mean, of course, it was cool on tournament days, when he wore Roman armor, he shouted “Olé!” and he challenged us, sword point against chalk, running to the blackboard and citing by name each Greek or Roman person who ever lived, the name of his mother and which gods worshiped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everyone else in spite of the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder, and that I never scored above C- in my life. No - he didn't expect me to be as good as he was; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, let alone write them right.  
I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner cast a long, sad look at the stele, as if he had been at that girl's funeral.

-She was a heroine-Said Quiron-You don't understand, what it is to see children training, to see them grow, and then they receive Missions, and they don't come back.

He told me to go out and have my snack.  
The group gathered on the front steps of the museum, from where we could watch pedestrian traffic on Fifth Avenue.  
Above us, an immense storm was brewing, with the darkest clouds I had ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather across New York State had been weird since Christmas.

"Someone is mad," Persephone hummed.

We had heavy snowfalls, floods, forest fires caused by lightning. I wouldn't have been surprised if it was a hurricane coming.  
No one else seemed to notice. Some of the boys were throwing cookies at the pigeons. Nancy Bobofit was trying to get something out of a lady's purse and, of course, Mrs. Dodds saw nothing.  
Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that if we did that, maybe no one would find out that we were from that school - the school for injured weirdos who didn't work anywhere else.  
\- Detention? Asked Grover.  
\- No. Not Brunner. I just wish he would give me a break sometimes. I mean, I'm not a genius.  
Grover said nothing for some time. So, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said:  
\- Can I eat your apple?  
I didn't have much of an appetite, so I gave it to him.  
I watched the taxis passing Fifth Avenue and thought of my mother's apartment, in the residential area next to where we were sitting. I haven't seen her since Christmas. I really wanted to jump in a taxi and go home. She would hug me and be happy to see me, but she would also be disappointed. I would immediately send me back to Yancy and remind myself that I need to try harder, even though this was my sixth school in six years and that I would probably be kicked out again. I couldn't bear the sad look she was going to give me.

-At least he has his mother-Said Demeter.

Mr. Brunner parked the wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. I ate celery while reading a novel. A red umbrella was tucked into the back of the chair, making it look like a motorized coffee table.  
I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends - I imagine she had tired of stealing from tourists - and let her snack, half eaten, fall into Grover's lap.  
\- Oops.  
She smiled at me with crooked teeth. The freckles were orange, as if someone had painted her face with a spray of liquid Cheetos.  
I tried to stay calm. The school counselor had told me a million times: "Count to ten, control your genius." I don't remember touching her, but when I found out, Nancy was sitting with back in the fountain, screaming:  
\- Percy pushed me!  
Mrs. Dodds materialized beside us. Some of the children were whispering:  
\- Did you see...  
\- ...the water...  
\- ... looks like he grabbed her ...

Poseidon's mouth fell open.  
"Did you break the oath?" Zeus shouted. "It had to be, can't you stay away from mortals?" This boy will be our doom.  
-We are not sure, if he is my brother son-Said the god of the sea  
-Whose would it be? Mine? -Hestia mocked.

I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.  
As soon as he made sure poor Nancy was fine, promising to give him a new shirt from the museum's gift shop, etc. and such, Mrs. Dodds turned to me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I had done something for which she had waited the entire semester.

-You showed who you are, before she just suspected-Dionísio said.

\- Now, honey ...  
"I know," I mumbled. - One month erasing exercise books.  
It was not the right thing to say.  
"Come with me," said Mrs. Dodds.  
\- Wait! Squeaked Grover. - I did it. I pushed it.  
I looked at him in bewilderment. I couldn't believe I was trying to protect myself. He was terrified of Mrs. Dodds.  
She shot him a look so furious that it made his chin quiver.  
"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.  
\- But ...  
\- Will you stay here.  
Grover looked at me desperately,  
"Okay, man," I told him. - Thanks for trying.  
"Honey," barked Mrs. Dodds at me. - Now.  
Nancy Bobofit gave a fake smile.  
I gave him my best “I'm going to end your race” look. So I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she was not there. She was standing at the entrance to the museum, at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently to me.  
How did she get there so quickly?  
I have thousands of such moments - my brain falls asleep or something, and when I realize it, I see that I missed something, as if a piece of the puzzle disappeared and left me looking at the empty space behind it. The school counselor told me that this was part of the attention deficit disorder, it was my brain that misinterpreted everything.  
I wasn't so sure.  
I went after Mrs. Dodds.  
In the middle of the steps, I looked back at Grover. He looked pale, moving his eyes between Mr. Brunner and me, as if he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but the professor was absorbed in his novel.  
I looked up again. Mrs. Dodds was gone again. He was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.  
Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy Nancy a new shirt at the gift shop. But that was apparently not the plan.  
I followed her into the museum. When I finally reached it, we were back in the Greco-Roman section.  
Except for us, the gallery was empty.  
Mrs. Dodds was standing with her arms crossed in front of a large marble frieze with the Greek gods. She made a strange sound in her throat, like a growl.  
Even without the noise, I would have been nervous. It's weird to be alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to spray it ...  
"You're making trouble for us, baby," she said.  
I did what was safe. Said:  
\- Yes ma'am.  
She adjusted the cuffs of her leather coat.  
\- Did you really think you were going to get away with this?

-What did he do?

The look in his eyes was more than furious. She was perverse. She's a teacher, I thought, nervous. It's not likely to hurt me.  
I said:  
\- I ... I'll try harder, lady.  
Thunder shook the building.  
"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. - It would only be a matter of time before we found out. Confess, and you will feel less pain.  
I didn't know what she was talking about.  
All I could think was that the teachers had discovered the illegal stockpile of sweets I was selling in my dorm. Or maybe they found out that I had picked up my work on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without even reading the book, and now they were going to get my note out. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.  
\- And then? - demanded.  
\- Madam, I don't ...  
"Your time is up," she hissed.  
Then something very strange happened. Her eyes started to shine like barbecue charcoal. The fingers stretched out into claws. The coat merged into large leather wings. She was not human. She was a bad, wrinkled witch, with bat wings and claws and a mouthful of yellowish fangs - and she was about to tear me to pieces.  
Did you send him a fury?  
-I don't know the reason Athena-Hades defended himself-But if he is Poseidon's son he needs to die, the prophecy cannot be fulfilled.  
"He's not going to be sixteen," Twisted Apollo.

Then things got even weirder.  
Mr. Brunner, who was in front of the museum a minute earlier, went with the wheelchair to the gallery doorway, holding a pen.  
\- Hello, Percy! He shouted, and launched his Mrs. Dodds pounced on me.  
With a high-pitched moan, I dodged and felt the claws cutting the air next to my ear. I grabbed the ballpoint pen from the top, but when it reached my hand, it was no longer a pen. It was a sword - Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament days.

-Anaklusmo!

Mrs. Dodds turned towards me with a murderous look in her eyes. My knees went weak. My hands were shaking so badly that I almost dropped the sword.  
She snarled:  
\- Die, baby!  
And it flew at me.  
Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came to me naturally: I struck the sword with a blow.  
The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed right through her body, as if it were made of water: Zás!  
Mrs. Dodds was a sandcastle under a fan. It exploded into yellow sand, reduced to dust, leaving nothing of the smell of sulfur, a shrill scream that faded and a chill of evil in the air, as if those red-hot eyes were still looking at me.  
I was alone.  
There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.  
Mr. Brunner was not there. There was nobody there but me.

"He's a little slow," exclaimed Demeter.

My hands were still shaking. My snack must have been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something. Had I imagined all that?

-He will end up dying, with monsters behind him, he needs to find out who he is - said Poseidon.

I went back outside.  
It had started to rain.  
Grover was sitting by the fountain with a map of the museum forming a tent over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still there, drenched from the bath in the fountain, mumbling to her ugly friends. When he saw me, he said:  
\- I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your ass.  
\- Who? - I replied.  
\- Our teacher. Duh!  
I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy who she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away.  
I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.  
\- Who? He replied.  
But Grover paused first, and he didn't look at me, so I thought he was kidding me.  
"It's not funny, man," I told him. - This is serious.

"Satyrs, they never knew how to lie," said Hades impatiently.

Thunder broke out overhead.  
I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under the red umbrella, reading his book, as if he had never moved. I went to him. He looked up, a little distracted.  
\- Ah, it's my pen. Please bring your own writing instrument in the future, Mr. Jackson.  
I handed the pen to Mr. Brunner. I hadn't noticed that I was still holding it.  
"Sir," said I, "where is Mrs. Dodds?"  
He looked at me with an empty expression.  
\- Who?  
\- The other teacher who accompanied us. Mrs. Dodds. Algebra initiation teacher.  
He frowned and leaned forward, looking slightly concerned.  
\- Percy, there are no Mrs. Dodds on this tour. As far as I know, there was never a Mrs. Dodds at the Yancy Academy. Are you feeling well?

-Maybe he falls, he's kind of Mongo-Ares said.


	4. Chapter 2

\- Three old ladies knit the socks of death- Leu Athena-That is the Fates, raise them by cutting the thread.  
-If he is going to die, the hero of prophecy is not him-Said Apollo.  
-Of course it is, how many children of three great ones do you think you have? - Zeus said furiously.

**I was used to one or the other weird experience, but they usually passed quickly. That hallucination 24 hours a day, seven days a week was more than I could face. For the rest of the school year the entire campus seemed to be playing tricks on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr - a cheerful blonde I had never seen in my life until the moment she got on our bus at the end of the tour - had been our algebra initiation teacher since the Christmas**.

"He must be confused, thinking he's crazy," said Poseidon.  
"I don't care, and hope he isn't your son," said Ares.

**Once in a while I would drop a reference to Mrs. Dodds on someone, just to see if I could make them falter, but they looked at me like I was crazy.  
I ended up almost believing them: Mrs. Dodds had never existed. Almost.  
But Grover failed to deceive me. When I mentioned the name Dodds he hesitated, then claimed that it didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.  
Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.**

"Idiotic satyr," said Nemesis.

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the day, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with claws and leather wings made me wake up in a cold sweat.**

"He will have worse dreams," said Hecate.

**The crazy weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a lightning storm broke through my bedroom window. A few days later, the largest tornado ever seen in the Hudson Valley touched the ground just fifty miles from the Yancy Academy.**

-What happened to you, dad? -You wanted to know Athena.

**One of the current events we learned in the social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that fell in sudden gales in the Atlantic that year.**

**I started to feel sulky and angry most of the time. My grades fell from D to F. I got into more friction with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. He was put out of the classroom and had to stay in the hallway for almost every class.**   
**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was so lazy to study for spelling tests, I exploded. I called him an old dipsomaniac. I wasn't sure what that meant, but it sounded good.**

It means the uninterrupted and irresistible urge to drink alcoholic beverages. ”Artemis said, and everyone looked at her in astonishment.“ Athena is not the only intelligent one.

**The principal sent a letter to my mother the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back to the Yancy Academy the following year.  
Great, I told myself. Just great. I was homesick. I wanted to stay with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to a public school and put up with my hateful stepfather and his stupid poker games.  
And yet ... there were things about Yancy that I would miss. The view from my window on the woods, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. He would miss Grover, who had been a good friend, even though he was a little weird. I was wondering how he would survive the next year without me.**

He will actually leave, or will continue to follow you-Said Hermes  
  


**I would also miss Latin class - Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his confidence that I could do well.**   
**When the exam week was approaching, Latin was the only exam I was studying for. I had not forgotten that Mr. Brunner had spoken about this matter being a matter of life and death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I believed him.**   
**The night before my final exam, I was so frustrated that I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek mythology across the dorm. The words had begun to float off the page, spinning around in my head, the letters making radical maneuvers as if they were skating. There was no way I could remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polidectes and Polideuces. And conjugate those Latin verbs?**   
**No way.**

"That boy is a waste," said Dionysus.

**I kept pacing the room, feeling as if ants were walking inside my shirt.  
I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, from his thousand-year-old eyes. From you, I will accept only the best, Percy Jackson.  
I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.  
I had never asked a teacher for help before. If I talked to Mr. Brunner, maybe he would give me some tips. I could at least apologize for the big F I was going to get in the race. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy by letting him think that I hadn't made an effort.  
I went down the stairs to the teachers' offices. Most were empty and dark, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar and the light from his window stretched across the hall floor.  
I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the room. Mr. Brunner had asked a question. A voice that was undoubtedly Grover's said: "... worried about Percy, sir."  
I froze.**

"Shit," said Hestia.

**I'm not normally a snooper, but I challenge someone not to try to listen when your best friend is talking about you with an adult.**  
 **I got a little closer.**  
 **"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. - I mean, a benevolent at school! Now that we know for sure, and they also know ...**  
 **"We will only make things worse if we hurry," said Mr. Brunner. - We need the boy to mature more.**  
 **\- But he may not have time. The summer solstice** **deadline ...**

-What does Percy have to do with the solstice? -Hera said -What did this boy do ?.

**\- It will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can.**   
**\- Sir, he saw her ...**   
**"Imagination of him," insisted Mr. Brunner. - The Mist over the students and the team will be enough to convince you of this.**   
**\- Sir, I ... I cannot fail in my tasks again - Grover's voice was choked with emotion - you know what that would mean.**

-So this Satyr has made a mistake? He doesn't know how to lie, nor can he protect Percy-Said Zeus-E what did he miss?

**"You haven't failed, Grover," said Mr. Brunner gently. - I should have seen her as she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall ...  
The mythology book fell from my hand and hit the floor with a thud.  
Mr. Brunner was silent.  
Heart racing, I picked up the book and headed back down the hall. A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair teacher, holding something suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

"I am in my true form," said Quiron.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.  
A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like stuffy wooden blocks, then a sound like an animal sniffing right in front of my door.  
A large dark shape stopped in front of the glass and then moved on.  
A drop of sweat ran down my neck.  
Somewhere in the hall, Mr. Brunner spoke.  
"Nothing," he murmured. - My nerves haven't been so good since the winter solstice.  
"Neither do mine," said Grover. - But I could have sworn ...  
"Go back to the dorm," said Mr. Brunner. - You have a long test day tomorrow.  
\- Don't even remember me.  
The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.  
I waited in the dark for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, I slipped out into the hall and went back up to the dorm. Grover was lying in bed, studying his Latin notes as if he had been there all night.  
\- Hey! He said, looking sleepy. - Will you be prepared for the test?  
I did not answer.  
\- You look horrible. - He frowned. - It's all right?  
\- I'm just tired.  
I turned around so he couldn't see my expression and started to get ready for bed.  
I didn't understand what I had heard down there. I wanted to believe that I had imagined it all. But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me from behind. They thought I was in some kind of danger.  
The following afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin test, stunned by all the Greek and Roman names I had misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back.  
For a moment, I was worried that he had discovered my gossip the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.  
"Percy," he said. - Don't be discouraged by leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for your good.**

-You love these Quiron boys too much-Demeter said fondly-You shouldn't get attached, you know they were going to die.  
-It is impossible not to get attached, live in the camp for a week and you will understand. These boys are my life

**His tone was gentle, but the words still made me uncomfortable. Although he was speaking softly, those who finished the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit gave me a fake smile and made small kissing movements with her lips.  
I mumbled:  
\- Okay, sir.  
"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner moved his chair back and forth, as if he wasn't sure what to say. - This is not the right place for you. It was just a matter of time**

"I shouldn't have said that, he won't understand," said Persephone.

**My eyes burned.**   
**There was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me that I was not able. After telling me all year that he believed in me, he now told me that I was destined to be expelled.**   
**"Okay," I said, shaking.**   
**"No, no," said Mr. Brunner. - Ah, that sucks. What I was trying to say ... is that you are not normal, Percy. Is nothing...**

"Be quiet," Hermes warned.

**Thank you - I let go. - Thank you very much, sir, for reminding me.  
\- Percy ...  
But I was already gone.  
On the last day of school, I packed my clothes.  
The other boys were making jokes, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going to hike in Switzerland. Another would take a month-long Caribbean cruise. They were juvenile offenders like me, but rich juvenile offenders. The daddies were executives, ambassadors or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobody.  
They asked me what I was going to do in the summer, and I said I would go back to the city.  
What I didn't tell them was that I was going to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spending my free time thinking about where I was going to study in the fall.  
"Ah," replied one of the boys. - Nice.  
They came back to the conversation as if I didn't exist. The only person I was afraid to say goodbye to was Grover, but the way things went, I didn't even need to. He had bought a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound bus as me, so there we were, together again, going to the city.**

"You better tell him right away," said Athena.

**Throughout the bus ride, Grover looked nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he always acted nervous and restless when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I thought he was afraid of being provoked. But there was no one to do that on the bus.  
Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.  
\- Looking for Benevolents?  
Grover almost jumped out of his seat.  
\- What ... what do you mean?  
I confessed to hearing his conversation with Mr. Brunner the night before the day of the race.  
Grover's eye twitched.  
\- How much did you hear?  
\- Ah ... not much. What is the summer solstice deadline?  
He dodged.  
\- Look Percy ... I was just worried about you, understand? I mean, hallucinating with demonic math teachers ...  
\- Grover ...  
"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were really stressed out or something, because there was no one named Mrs. Dodds and ...  
\- Grover, you really lie badly.  
His ears went pink. From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grimy business card.  
\- Take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.  
The card had a flowery handwriting, which was a terror to my dyslexic eyes, but in the end I managed to identify something like:  
Grover Underwood  
Guardian  
Half-Blood Hill  
Long Island, New York  
(800) 009 -0009**

-Our number has changed-commented Quiron.

**\- What is Colina Meio ...**   
**\- Do not speak loud! - yelped. - It's mine, ah ... summer address.**   
**My heart sank. Grover had a vacation home. I never imagined that his family could be as wealthy as those of the others in Yancy.**   
**"Okay," I said, sullenly. - Okay, if I want a visit to your mansion.**   
**He nodded.**   
**\- Or ... or if you need me.**   
**\- Why would I need you?**

-Let me see ... why is he your protector? -Apollo said without patience.

**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"  
There was a tremendous noise of something being crushed under our feet. Black smoke came out of the dashboard and the entire bus was filled with the smell of rotten eggs. The driver swore and took the bus with difficulty to the shoulder.  
After a few minutes of making some metallic sounds in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we would have to get off. Grover and I filed out with everyone else.  
We were on a stretch of country road - a place that we wouldn't even notice if we hadn't broken down there. On our side of the road, there was nothing but maple and garbage dumped by passing cars. On the other side, after crossing four asphalt tracks that reflected a flickering light in the afternoon heat, there was a fruit stand like the ones in the old days.  
The things on sale looked really good: boxes overflowing with cherries and red apples like blood, nuts and apricots, jars of cider in a tub with paw-shaped feet, full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting on rocking chairs in the shade of an edge, knitting the largest pair of socks I had ever seen.  
I mean, those socks were the size of sweaters, but they were obviously socks. The lady on the right was knitting one of them. The one on the left the other. The one in the middle held a huge basket of bright blue wool.**

"He is still staring," said Hermes, who could not explain but liked Percy.

**The three women looked very old, their faces pale and wrinkled like dried fruit, silver hair tied back with a white scarf, bony arms sticking out of pale cotton dresses.  
The weirdest thing was that they seemed to be looking directly at me. I looked at Grover for comment and saw that his face had gone white. His nose was trembling.  
\- Grover? - I called. - Hey dude...  
\- Tell them they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?  
\- They are. Weird, isn't it? Do you think those socks would fit me?  
\- It's not funny, Percy. It's not funny at all.  
The old woman in the middle took a huge pair of scissors - golden and silver, with long blades, like a clipper.**

-He's days are numbered-Sentenced Hera.

**I heard Grover take a breath.  
"Let's get on the bus," he told me. - Come on.  
\- What? It's five hundred degrees inside.  
\- Come on!  
He forced the door and went up, but I stayed below.  
Across the road, the old women were still looking at me. The one in the middle cut the wool thread, and I can swear I heard that noise cross the four traffic lanes. Her two friends rolled up their blue socks and made me wonder who that was for - Bigfoot or Godzilla.  
At the rear of the bus, the driver pulled a large piece of steaming metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered and the engine came to life, snoring.  
The passengers applauded.  
\- Everything in order! The driver shouted. He hit the bus with his hat. - Everyone inside!  
When we were on our way, I started to feel like I caught the flu.**

That quickly-If scared Hades-Usually, they die out of nowhere, he's feeling before.  
-Or you just have the flu-said Athena.

**Grover didn't look much better. I was shaking and chattering.  
\- Grover?  
\- Yes?  
\- What do you say?  
He wiped his sleeve.  
\- Percy, what did you see back there at the fruit stand?  
\- You mean, those old women? What's up with them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?  
His expression was difficult to interpret, but I had a feeling that the old ladies at the fruit stand were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. Grover said:  
\- Just tell me what you saw.  
\- The middle one took scissors and cut the thread.  
He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers similar to the sign of the cross, but that was not it. It was something else, something a little ... older.  
He said:  
\- Did you see her cut the wire?  
\- Yes. So what? - But even as I said that, I already knew it was something important.  
"This isn't happening," muttered Grover. He started to bite his thumb. - I don't want it to be like the last time.**

-I think that the demigod he protected died-Said Zeus-By isis he said to Quiron, that he could not fail.

**\- What last time?  
\- Always in sixth grade. They never make it past Friday**

-Just twelve years-regretted Hestia

**\- Grover - I called, because he was really starting to scare me - what are you talking about?  
\- Let me go with you from the bus station to your house. Promise me.  
That seemed like a strange request, but I promised.  
\- Is it a superstition or something? - I asked.  
No answer.  
\- Grover ... that cut in the wire. Does it mean someone is going to die?  
He looked at me sadly, as if he were already choosing the type of flowers I would like to have in my coffin.**

-Let's go to the next one. Let me read-Said Artemis.


	5. Chapter 3

What comes around during the saga:  
My last name was Di angelo singular from Angeles, which means Angel, my name was Bianca who in Italian meant white, together they made up a white angel, which was ironic because I was Hades' daughter. I was twelve when I was killed in combat. Ready for my death? .Because I wasn't. -Done by myself

-Luke made mistakes, and Thalia and Annabeth pay for them-Said Hades-He was their hero, helped Annabeth when Thalia died. They betrayed her.  
-The truth will one day bury you. They will understand that their friend is gone. I just hope it won't be long, said Zeus.

Most sighed in relief. Others aka Zeus and Aphrodite hated it.

"Another maiden for the house of Holiness," murmured Aphrodite

-I want it and I don't want it-Said Zeus-On the one hand Thalia is not in danger of destroying us, and on the other she can be the heroine. You don't say anything Hades and Poseidon, but I know you think the same, hope your children are the heroes.

-I wanted Bianca to be the one of the prophecy-Said Hades -No Nico.

\- I'm not judging your daughters, far from me. But what if she is like Silena ?. And if she is an es ....  
\- So don't judge Hera - warned Aphrodite - It's annoying, you are judging our children, trying to kill Zeus' children. He wants our respect but he doesn't respect us. I'm not Beth Cooper, I'm not going to pretend to be the perfect girl.  
\- Go for me, I never thought you were perfect- Said Hera.

\- She is not the monster house, but just to be sure stay away from my lawn- quiron quipped.  
\- Careful, run away from old Epaminondas! - Said Dionysus - Internal joke- Added the god when he saw that no one had understood.


	6. Chapter 4

Minha mãe me ensina a lutar contra Leu Apolo.

**Dirigimos pelas estradas escuras do campo à noite. O vento estava atingindo o Camaro. A chuva chicoteou o pára-brisa. Eu não sabia como minha mãe podia ver alguma coisa, mas ela mantinha o pé no acelerador.**

\- "Eu não quero um arranjo", tarde demais Gabe-Ares disse conteúdo - Isso vai render uma boa luta.

**Toda vez que um raio brilhava, eu olhava para Grover sentado ao meu lado no banco de trás e me perguntava se ele estava enlouquecido ou se estava usando algum tipo de calça felpuda. Mas não, o cheiro era o mesmo que eu lembrava das excursões do jardim de infância ao zoológico infantil - lanolina, como lã. O cheiro de um animal estável e úmido.**

**Tudo o que eu poderia dizer era:**   
**\- Então, você e minha mãe ... se conhece?**   
**Os olhos de Grover são movidos rapidamente para o espelho retrovisor, embora não haja carro atrás de nós.**   
**"Não exatamente", ele respondeu. - Quero dizer, nunca nos conhecemos selecionados. Mas ela sabia que eu estava te observando.**   
**\- Me assistindo?**   
**Eu estava te observando. Cuidando para que esteja tudo bem. Mas eu não estava fingindo ser sua amiga - ele entrou apressadamente. - Eu sou seu amigo.**   
**\- Er ... o que você é exatamente?**   
**\- Não importa neste momento.**   
**\- Não importa? Da cintura para baixo, meu melhor amigo é uma idiota ...**   
**Grover resolve um gutural:**   
**\- Béééééé!**   
**Eu já ouço o lançamento desse som antes, mas sempre achei que era uma vez nervosa.**   
**Agora eu percebi que era mais um grito de raiva.**   
**\- Bode! Ele exclamou.**

-E importa. ?   
-Isso importa, Apollo, tem muitas diferenças entre eles, se você não gostar de um deus inferior, por exemplo. –Artemis disse, e seu irmão concordou com má vontade.   
-Você está certo, irmãzinha.   
-Quantas vezes vou repetir? Somos gêmeos Apolo-Disse o rosto ficando vermelho.

\- **O que?**  
 **\- Eu sou uma cabra da cintura para baixo.**  
 **\- Você acabou de dizer o que não importa.**  
 **\- Béééé! Alguns sátiros disponíveis chutá-lo por tal insulto!**  
 **Uau. Esperar. Sátiros. Você quer dizer ... mitos do Sr. Brunner?**  
 **"Aquelas velhas mulheres da fruta eram um mito, Percy?" A senhora Dodds era um mito?**  
 **\- Então você admite que havia uma Sra. Dodds!**  
 **Claro.**  
 **\- Então por que ...**  
 **"Quanto menos você soubesse, menos monstros atraia", disse Grover, como se fosse perfeitamente óbvio. - Colocamos uma névoa diante dos olhos humanos. Esperamos que você consiga que o Benevolente era uma alucinação. Mas não ajudou. Você começou a perceber quem você é.**

"Ele demorou muito tempo para perceber a verdade, especialmente sendo um meio tão poderoso", disse Quiron, arqueando uma sobrancelha.

\- **Quem eu ... espera um pouco, o que você quer dizer?**  
 **O rugido estranho subiu novamente em algum lugar atrás de nós, mais perto do que antes. O que estava nos perseguindo, ele ainda estava na nossa cauda.**  
 **"Percy", minha mãe interrompeu, "tem muito a explicar e não temos tempo suficiente. Precisamos usar a segurança.**  
 **\- Quão seguro? Quem está atrás de mim?**  
 **" Oh, nada demais ", disse Grover, obviamente. ofendido com o comentário sobre o burro - Apenas o Senhor dos Mortos e alguns de seus serviços mais sanguinários.**

\- Você não vai matá-lo, Hades - exclama Poseidon, furioso - eu errei, não ele, apenas você está perseguindo o garoto. Uma fúria, o destino e agora outro monstro. Você vai se arrepender.   
-Eu não estou perseguindo ele por ter nascido, embora ele não deva estar vivo - argumentou Hades - eu já disse, não fiz nada sem razão, algo que Percy fez comigo.   
-Ele nem sabe o que é. O que ele poderia ter feito? -Quer conhecer Athena.

  
\- **Grover!**  
 **Desculpe, senhora Jackson. Você poderia dirigir mais rápido, por favor?**  
 **Tentei envolver minha mente que estava acontecendo, mas não conseguiu. Eu sabia que não era um sonho. Eu não tinha imaginação. Eu nunca poderia sonhar com algo tão estranho.**  
 **Minha mãe fez uma curva acentuada para a esquerda. Viramos por uma estrada mais estreita, passando rapidamente por casas de fazenda escuras, colinas cobertas de árvores e placas que dizem "COLHEITA SUAS PRÓPRIAS MORANGOS" sobre cercas brancas.**  
 **\- Onde estamos indo? - Eu perguntei.**  
 **\- No acampamento de verão de que falei. - a voz da minha mãe estava tensa; para mim, ela estava tentando não parecer assustada. - O lugar onde seu pai queria te enviar.**  
 **\- O lugar que você não queria.**  
 **"Por favor, querida", ela implorou. - Isso já é bastante difícil. Tente entender. Você está em perigo.**  
 **\- Porque algumas velhinhas cortam um fio de lã.**  
 **"Essas não eram velhinhas", disse Grover. - Foi o destino. Você sabe o que isso significa ... o fato de que eles aparecem na sua frente? Eles só fazem isso quando você está pronto para ... quando alguém está pronto para morrer.**  
 **Uau! Tu disseste tu ".**  
 **Não, eu não disse. Eu disse" alguém ".**  
 **\- Você quis dizer" você ". Esse sou eu.**  
 **\- Eu quis dizer você como alguém que diz" alguém ". Não você, Percy, mas você, qualquer um.**  
 **\- Rapazes! - minha mãe interveio.**

**Ela puxou o volante para a direita e eu pude vislumbrar a forma pela qual ela havia desviado - uma forma escura e ondulada, agora perdida na tempestade atrás de nós.**   
**\- O que é que foi isso? - Eu perguntei.**   
**"Estamos quase chegando", disse minha mãe, ignorando a pergunta. - Outra milha. Por favor. Por favor. Por favor.**   
**Eu não sabia onde estava lá, mas me vi inclinada para a frente em antecipação, querendo que chegássemos lá em breve.**

-Por favor! -Hestia murmurou.

**Do lado de fora, não havia nada além de chuva e escuridão - o tipo de campo vazio que você vê quando vai para o final de Long Island. Pensei na senhora Dodds e no momento em que ela se tornou aquela coisa com dentes pontudos e asas de couro. Meus membros estavam dormentes de choque. Ela realmente não era humana. E ele pretendia me matar.**   
**Então pensei no Sr. Brunner ... e na espada que ele havia atirado em mim. Antes que eu pudesse perguntar a Grover, meu cabelo nunca estava bagunçado.**   
**Houve um clarão ofuscante, um vagabundo! De cair o queixo e o carro explodiu.**

Pelos deuses ... você quer dizer um raio de Afrodite para nós? .   
"Eles estão bem?" Hermes perguntou. "O carro realmente explodiu?" .

**Lembro-me de me sentir leve, como se estivesse sendo esmagada, frita e lavada com uma mangueira, tudo ao mesmo tempo. Eu levantei minha testa do encosto do banco do motorista e disse:**   
**\- Pronto.**   
**Percy! Chorei minha mãe.**   
**\- Estou bem ...**   
**tentei sair do estupor. Eu não estava morto, o carro não tinha realmente explodido.**

"Claro que você não está morto", disse Zeus.

**Caímos em uma vala. As portas do lado do motorista estavam presas na lama. O teto se abriu como uma casca de ovo e a chuva estava caindo.**   
**Raios. Essa foi a única explicação. Voamos pelo ar, fora da estrada.**

"Eles poderiam ter morrido Zeus. Eu sei que você fez isso de propósito", disse Poseidon com raiva de seu irmão. -Gostaria se tentasse afogar seu filho?

**Ao meu lado, no banco de trás, havia uma massa grande, uniforme e imóvel.**   
**\- Grover!**   
**Ele estava deitado de lado, com sangue escorrendo do canto da boca. Eu balancei seus quadris peludos, pensando: Não! Mesmo se você for meio quintal de animais, você ainda é minha melhor amiga e não quero que você morra!**   
**Então ele gemeu:**   
**\- Comida - e eu sabia que havia esperança.**

-Que brincadeira -Riu Nemesis.

\- **Percy - disse minha mãe - nós temos que ...**  
 **Ela hesitou.**  
 **Eu olhei para trás. Em um relâmpago, através do para-brisa traseiro salpicado de lama, vi uma figura caminhando pesadamente em nossa direção, na beira da estrada.**  
 **Essa visão fez minha pele formigar. Era a silhueta de um cara enorme, como um jogador de futebol. Ele parecia estar segurando um cobertor sobre a cabeça. A metade superior era volumosa e indistinta. Suas mãos levantadas deram a impressão de que ele tinha chifres.**

\- Minotauro - disse Hera com a boca aberta - Parece que você é louco por matar esse garoto, Hades.

**Engoli.**   
**\- Quem é ...**   
**\- Percy - disse minha mãe, extremamente séria - sai do carro.**   
**Ela se jogou contra a porta do lado do motorista. Estava preso na lama. Eu tentei o meu. Preso também. Desesperadamente, olhei para o buraco no teto. Poderia ter sido uma saída, mas as bordas estavam chiando e fumando.**   
**\- Saia do lado do passageiro! - minha mãe ordenou. - Percy, você tem que correr. Você vê aquela grande árvore?**   
**\- O que?**   
**Outro relâmpago limpou o local e, através do buraco fumegante no teto, vi a árvore a que se referia: um pinheiro enorme, do tamanho de uma árvore de Natal da Casa Branca, no topo da colina mais próxima.**

-Não há pinheiros no Quiron informado na colina-Mas que árvore é essa?

**"Esse é o limite da propriedade", explicou minha mãe. - Passe por essa colina e você verá uma grande casa de fazenda no fundo do vale. Executar e não olhe para trás. Grite por ajuda. Não pare até chegar à porta.**   
**\- Mãe, você também vem.**   
**O rosto dela estava pálido, os olhos tristes como quando ela olhava para o oceano.**   
**\- Não! Eu gritei. - Você vem comigo. Ajude-me a carregar o Grover.**

\- Isso não vai terminar bem. O Minotauro está se aproximando ”, disse Hecate.

**Coma! Grover gemeu, um pouco mais alto.**   
**O homem com o cobertor na cabeça continuou vindo em nossa direção, rosnando e bufando. Quando ele se aproximou, percebi que não podia estar segurando um cobertor sobre a cabeça porque suas mãos - enormes e carnudas - estavam balançando ao lado dele.**   
**Não havia cobertor. O que significava que a massa volumosa e indistinta que era grande demais para ser sua cabeça ... era sua cabeça. E as dicas de chifres ...**   
**"Ele não nos quer", disse minha mãe. - Ele quer você. Além disso, não posso exceder o limite de propriedade.**   
**\- Mas ...**   
**\- Não temos tempo, Percy. Ir. Por favor.**   
**Então, eu estava bravo - bravo com minha mãe, com Grover, a cabra, com a coisa com chifres que se movia pesadamente em nossa direção, lenta e calculada como ... como um touro.**   
**Passei por Grover e empurrei a porta que se abriu para chover.**   
**\- Nós estamos indo juntos. Vamos mãe.**   
**\- Eu já disse isso ...**   
**\- Mãe! Eu não vou te abandonar. Ajuda aqui com Grover.**

"Não é hora de cavalheirismo", Bufou Demeter.

**Não esperei pela resposta dela. Eu me arrastei para fora do carro, puxando Grover comigo. Ele era surpreendentemente leve, mas eu não poderia ter levado muito longe se minha mãe não tivesse ido me ajudar.**  
 **Juntos, colocamos os braços de Grover em nossos ombros e tropeçamos ladeira acima, a grama molhada na altura da cintura.**  
 **Olhando para trás, tive minha primeira visão clara do monstro. Era facilmente mais de dois metros, e os braços e pernas pareciam algo fora da capa de uma revista. Músculos - bíceps e tríceps torcidos e um monte de outros ceps, todos inchados como bolas de beisebol sob uma pele com veias. Ele não vestia roupa, exceto a sua roupa interior - muito branca, da Fruit of the Loom marca - o que teria sido engraçado se não fosse pelo fato de que sua parte superior do corpo era tão assustador. Cabelos castanhos grossos começaram no umbigo e ficaram mais grossos quando chegaram aos ombros.**  
 **Seu pescoço era uma massa de músculos e cabelos que levava à cabeça enorme, que tinha um focinho do meu braço, narinas ranhosas com um anel de bronze brilhante, olhos e chifres negros cruéis - enormes chifres em preto e branco com pontas que você não seria capaz de fazê-lo nem em um apontador elétrico.**  
 **Eu reconheci o monstro muito bem. Foi uma das primeiras histórias que o Sr. Brunner nos contou. Mas não poderia ser real.**  
 **Eu pisquei meus olhos para desviar a chuva.**  
 **\- Isso é ...**  
 **"Filho de Pasífae", respondeu minha mãe. - Gostaria de saber o quanto eles queriam te matar antes.**  
 **\- Mas ele é Mino ...**  
 **"Não diga o nome", ela avisou. - Nomes têm poder.**  
 **O pinheiro ainda estava muito longe - pelo menos trinta metros acima da colina.**  
 **Dei outra olhada para trás.**  
 **O homem-touro se inclinou sobre o nosso carro, olhando pela janela - não exatamente olhando. Era mais como cheirar, cheirar. Eu não sabia por que ele fez esse trabalho, já que estávamos a apenas quinze metros de distância.**  
 **\- Comida? Grover gemeu.**  
 **\- Shhh - eu fiz. - Mãe, o que ele está fazendo? Pode'**  
 **\- Sua visão e audição são terríveis. É guiado pelo cheiro.** **Mas você verá onde estamos em breve.**   
**Como se fosse uma sugestão, o homem-touro rugiu de raiva. Ele agarrou o Camaro de Gabe pelo capô rasgado, o chassi rangeu e gemeu. Ele levantou o carro por cima da cabeça e jogou-o na estrada. Ele atingiu o asfalto molhado e deslizou através de uma chuva de faíscas por cerca de quinhentos metros antes de parar. O tanque de gasolina explodiu.**  
 **Nem um arranhão, lembrei-me de Gabe dizendo.**  
 **Opa**  
 **Percy. Quando ele nos vir, ele atacará. Espere até o último segundo e saia do caminho. Ele não pode mudar de direção muito bem quando já está atacando. Você entendeu?**

-Mortal inteligente, minha mãe me ensina a lutar - Apolo repetiu.

**\- Como você sabe tudo isso?**   
**\- Estou preocupada com um ataque há muito tempo. Eu deveria ter esperado isso. Eu era egoísta, mantendo você perto de mim.**   
**\- Mantendo-se perto de você? Mas ...**   
**Com outro rugido de raiva, o homem-boi começou a subir pesadamente a colina.**   
**Ele tinha nos cheirado.**   
**O pinheiro tinha apenas mais alguns metros, mas a colina estava ficando mais íngreme e escorregadia, e Grover estava ficando mais pesado.**   
**O homem-touro estava se aproximando. Mais alguns segundos e estaria em cima de nós.**   
**Minha mãe devia estar exausta, mas ela carregava Grover.**   
**\- Vá, Percy! Ir sozinho! Lembre-se do que eu disse.**   
**Eu não queria terminar, mas tinha a sensação de que ela estava certa - era a nossa única chance. Eu pulei para a esquerda, virei e vi a criatura avançando em minha direção. Os olhos negros brilhavam com ódio. Fedia a carne podre. Ele inclinou a cabeça e atacou, aqueles chifres afiados apontados diretamente para o meu peito.**   
**O medo no meu estômago me fez querer atirar, mas isso não funcionaria.**

**Eu nunca poderia correr mais rápido do que isso. Então fiquei parado e, no último momento, pulei para o lado**

Suba a colina, entre no acampamento. Ele perguntou a Poseidon, pensando.

**O homem passou por mim como um trem de carga, rugiu frustrado e se virou, mas desta vez não contra mim, mas contra minha mãe, que estava acomodando Grover na grama.**

-Por que ele quer atacar o mortal? -Dionisio disse sem entender.

**Chegamos ao topo da colina. Lá embaixo, do outro lado, eu podia ver um vale, como minha mãe dissera, e as luzes de uma casa piscando de amarelo pela chuva. Mas estava a oitocentos metros de distância. Nós nunca poderíamos chegar lá.**   
**O touro roncou, cavando o chão. Ele olhou para minha mãe, que estava lentamente descendo a colina, de volta para a estrada, tentando manter o monstro de Grover longe.**   
**\- Corra, Percy! Eu não posso sair daqui. Corre!**   
**Mas eu fiquei lá, paralisado de medo, enquanto o monstro a atacava. Ela tentou se afastar, como me disse, mas o monstro havia aprendido a lição. Ele jogou a mão para a frente e agarrou o pescoço dela quando ela tentou escapar. Ele a levantou enquanto ela lutava, chutando e socando o ar.**

-Sally-disseram todos em sussurros.

**\- Mãe!**   
**Então, com um rugido furioso, o monstro fechou os punhos em volta do pescoço da minha mãe e se dissolveu diante dos meus olhos, derretendo na luz, uma forma dourada e cintilante, como uma projeção holográfica. Houve um clarão ofuscante, e simplesmente ... se foi.**

–Ele perdeu a mãe, como tantas outras, não há ninguém. A menos que o padrasto seja claro, mas Percy não vai querer ficar com ele - disse Quiron com profundo pesar.   
Mas ele não a matou. O que eu estou fazendo? Hades pensou, mas decidiu guardar para si mesmo, era bom que eles pensassem que Sally estava morta para todos os efeitos.

**\- Não!**   
**A raiva substituiu o medo. Uma nova força queimou em meus membros - a mesma onda de energia que me ocorreu quando a Sra. Dodds mostrou suas garras.**   
**O homem-touro foi em direção a Grover, que estava deitado na grama, desamparado. O monstro fez uma reverência, cheirando meu melhor amigo como se estivesse prestes a levantá-lo e fazê-lo se dissolver também.**   
**Eu não poderia permitir isso.**   
**Tirei minha capa de chuva vermelha.**   
**\- Ei! Eu gritei, acenando com a capa e correndo para o lado do monstro. - Ei, estúpido! Montão de carne moída!**   
**Raaaarrrrr!**   
**O monstro virou-se para mim, sacudindo os punhos carnudos.**   
**Eu tive uma ideia - uma ideia boba, mas melhor que nada. Apoiei minhas costas no grande pinheiro e acenei a capa vermelha na frente do homem-boi, pensando em pular para fora do caminho no último momento.**   
**Mas não foi assim que aconteceu.**   
**O homem-touro atacou rápido demais, com os braços estendidos para me agarrar, não importando de que lado eu tentasse me esquivar.**   
**O tempo começou a desacelerar.**   
**Minhas pernas travaram. Como não pude pular para o lado, pulei para cima, usando a cabeça da criatura como trampolim, girei no ar e caí no pescoço.**   
**Como eu fiz isso? Não tive tempo de descobrir.**

-Instinto em batalha. E foi incrível ”, disse Ares.

**Um milésimo de segundo depois, a cabeça do monstro bateu na árvore e o impacto quase fez meus dentes saltarem da minha boca.**   
**O homem-touro cambaleou para frente e para trás tentando se livrar de mim. Eu segurei firmemente seus chifres para não ser jogado. Trovões e raios ficaram mais fortes. A chuva caiu nos meus olhos. O cheiro de carne podre queimou minhas narinas.**   
**O monstro estremeceu e empinou como um touro de rodeio. Eu poderia ter voltado e me esmagado completamente na árvore, mas estava começando a perceber que aquela coisa tinha apenas uma direção: avançar.**   
**Enquanto isso, Grover começou a gemer na grama. Eu queria gritar para ele ficar quieto, mas do jeito que eu estava sendo jogada, se eu abrisse minha boca eu cortaria minha própria língua com uma mordida.**   
**\- Comida! - Grover gemeu.**   
**O homem-touro virou-se para ele, cavou o chão novamente e se preparou para atacar.**   
**Pensei em como ele arrancou a vida de minha mãe, como ele a fez desaparecer em um flash de luz, e a raiva me alimentou como um combustível de alta potência. Peguei um dos chifres com as duas mãos e recuei com toda a minha força. O monstro se enrijeceu, soltou um grunhido de surpresa e depois ... plec!**   
**O homem-touro gritou e me jogou no ar. Caí de costas na grama. Minha cabeça bateu em uma pedra. Quando me sentei, minha visão estava embaçada, mas eu tinha uma buzina nas mãos, um osso quebrado do tamanho de uma faca.**

-Quão? Ele nem sequer tem treinamento, não é tão fácil, acabar com o minotauro - disse Perséfone surpresa.

**O monstro atacou.**   
**Sem pensar, rolei de lado e me ajoelhei. Quando passou por toda a velocidade, eu enterrei o chifre direita quebrada no lado de seu corpo, logo abaixo da caixa torácica cabeludo.**   
**O homem-touro uivou em agonia.**

**Ele lutou, rasgando o peito com as garras, e então começou a se desintegrar - não como minha mãe, em um clarão dourado, mas como areia desintegrada, levada pelo vento em pedaços, assim como a sra. Dodds se desintegrou.**   
**O monstro se foi.**

"Maneira legal de matar", disse Apollo, divertido, morto por uma parte do corpo.

**A chuva parou. A tempestade ainda rugia, mas apenas a partir de uma distância. Senti o cheiro de gado e meus joelhos tremiam. Minha cabeça parecia que ia se dividir ao meio. Ele estava fraco, assustado e tremia de tristeza. Acabei de ver minha mãe desaparecer. Eu queria me deitar e chorar, mas havia Grover, precisando da minha ajuda, então consegui levantá-lo e cambalear no vale em direção às luzes da casa. Eu estava chorando, chamando para a minha mãe, mas eu me agarrei a Grover - Eu não ia deixá-lo ir.**   
**Minha última lembrança está passando em uma varanda de madeira, olhando para um ventilador de teto que rodopiou sobre mim, mariposas voando ao redor de uma luz amarela e as expressões austeras e familiares de um homem barbudo e uma garota bonita com cabelos loiros encaracolados como uma princesa. Os dois olharam para mim e a garota disse:**   
**\- É ele. Tem que ser.**   
**"Silêncio, Annabeth", perguntou o homem. - Ele ainda está consciente. Traga para dentro.**

-Ele quem? Quem é Zeus perguntou a Annabeth.


	7. Chapter 5

\- I play pinochle with a horse-I love Pinochet-Said Dionísio, when reading the title -I and Quiron play a lot in the camp, it is a balm to withstand these damn pests.

**I had strange dreams, full of stable animals. Most wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food. I must have woken up several times, but what I heard and saw didn't make sense, so I fell asleep again. I remember being lying on a soft bed, being fed spoonfuls of something that tasted like popcorn with butter, only it looked like pudding.**

-Nectar-deduced Chiron.

**The girl with the curly blond hair hovered over me with a smirk as she brushed the drops off my chin with a spoon.**

**When she saw my eyes open, she asked:**   
**\- What will happen at the summer solstice?**   
**I managed to grumble:**   
**\- What?**   
**She looked around, as if she was afraid that someone would hear.**   
**\- What is happening? What was stolen? We only have a few weeks!**

-Then my lightning has already been stolen-Zeus said furiously -I just hope it's not the master lightning, and whoever did it, will feel my fury. You don't steal something from a god, and you get away with it.

**"Sorry," I mumbled. - I do not...**   
**Someone knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.**   
**When I woke up again, the girl was gone.**   
**A blond, strong guy, like a surfer, was in the corner of the room watching me.**   
**He had blue eyes - at least a dozen of them - on his cheeks, on his forehead, on the back of his hands.**

**When I finally came to myself for good, there was nothing strange about the place around me, unless it was more pleasant than I was used to. He was sitting on a chaise longue on a huge porch, looking out over a meadow to green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All of that was great, but my mouth felt like it was used as a nest by a scorpion. The tongue was dry and sticky, and all the teeth hurt. On the next table there was a drink in a tall glass. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a**

**paper umbrella tucked into a cherry. My hand was so weak that I almost dropped the glass when I wrapped my fingers around it.**   
**"Careful," said a familiar voice.**   
**Grover was leaning on the porch railing, and he hadn't seemed to sleep in a week.**

"You must have been very concerned," said Hermes.

**Under one arm, he held a shoe box. He was wearing jeans, Converse high-top sneakers, and a light orange T-shirt that read HALF-BLOOD CAMP. Only old Grover. No kid-goat.**   
**Who knows, maybe I had a nightmare? Maybe my mom was fine. We were still on vacation and we had stopped there in that big house for some reason. AND...**   
**"You saved my life," said Grover. - I ... well, the least I could do ... went back up the hill. I thought you might want that.**   
**Reverently, he placed the shoe box on my lap.**   
**Inside was a white-and-black bull's horn, the base uneven from being broken, the tip spattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.**   
**"The Minotaur," I said.**   
**\- Er, Percy, it's not a good idea ...**   
**\- That's what they call it in Greek myths, isn't it? - I asked. - The Minotaur. Half a man, half a bull.**   
**Grover shifted, uncomfortable.**   
**\- You were unconscious for two days. What do you remember?**   
**\- My mom. She's really ...**   
**He looked down.**   
**I looked over the meadow. There were small woods, a meandering stream, fields of strawberries scattered under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the highest one, right in front of us, was the one with the big pine tree at the top.**

-This Pine is new, but there shouldn't be anything on the hill ...  
-Calm Quiron, it's just a tree. Someone must have planted it, ”said Persphone.

  
**Even she looked beautiful in the sunlight.**   
**My mother was gone. The whole world should be dark and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.**   
**"Sorry," sniffed Grover. - I am a failure. I ... am the worst satyr in the world.**   
**He groaned, stamping his foot so hard that he left, I mean, Converse shoes came out. Inside, it was stuffed with styrofoam, except for a hull-shaped hole.**   
**\- Oh, for the Styx! He murmured.**   
**Thunder echoed in the clear sky.**   
**As he struggled to put the hull back on the fake foot, I thought, Well, that gets things done.**   
**Grover was a satyr. He could bet that if he shaved his curly brown hair, he would find little horns on his head.**   
**But I was too unhappy to care about satyrs or even minotaurs. The important thing was that my mother had really been squeezed into nothing, dissolved in yellow light.**

**I was alone. An orphan. And would I have to live with ... Gabe.No. It would never happen. I preferred to live on the streets. I would pretend to be seventeen and enlist in the army. I would do something.**   
**Grover was still sniffling. The poor boy - poor goat, or satyr, or whatever - seemed to be waiting to be punched.**   
**"It wasn't your fault," I said.**   
**\- Yes, it was. I should protect you.**   
**\- Did my mother ask you to protect me?**   
**\- No. But that's what I do. I am a guardian. At least ... I was.**   
**\- But why...**

-Because he failed, and again as far as we know-said Hades-I just wanted to know what happened the first time.

**I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swirling.**   
**\- Don't try too hard. On here.**   
**He helped me hold the glass and I raised the straw to my lips.**   
**I drew back with taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It had nothing to do with it. It tasted like a chocolate chip cookie. Liquid biscuit. And not just any cookie - my mom's blue cookies with chocolate chips, buttery and hot, the chocolate still melting. As I drank it, my whole body felt good, warm and full of energy. My sadness did not go away, but it was as if my mother had just caressed my cheek and given me a cookie, as she used to do when I was little, and said that everything was going to be okay.**   
**Before I knew it, I had already drained the entire glass. I looked into it and it certainly wasn't a hot drink, because the ice cubes hadn't even melted.**   
**\- It was good? Grover asked.**   
**I said yes with the head.**   
**\- What did it taste like?**   
**He looked so pleading that I felt guilty.**   
**\- Excuse me. I should have let you taste it.**   
**His eyes widened.**   
**\- No! That is not what I meant. I just ... I was curious.**   
**"Chocolate chip cookies," I replied. - My mother's. Made at home.**   
**He sighed.**   
**\- And how do you feel?**   
**\- As if he were able to play Nancy Bobofit from a hundred meters away.**   
**"That's a good thing," he said. - That's nice. I don't think you should risk taking more of that there.**   
**\- What you mean?**   
**He took my glass cautiously, as if it were dynamite, and put it back on the table.**   
**\- Let's go. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting.**

-I'm going to show-Dionísio said discouraged-It seems I'm still there.  
-And it will stay for a long time-Said Zeus-And look that you deserved more.

**The veranda surrounded the entire farmhouse.**   
**I felt my legs trembling trying to walk all that distance. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur's horn, but I clung to him. He had paid a high price for that souvenir. I wouldn't let go.**   
**When we walked around to the opposite side of the house, I stopped to catch my breath.**   
**We must have been on the north shore of Long Island, because from that side of the house the valley went down to the water, which sparkled about a mile away. Between the house and there, I just couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings reminiscent of ancient Greek architecture - an open pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena - except that they looked brand new, the white marble columns gleaming in the sun. On a nearby sand court, a dozen children and satyrs were playing volleyball. Canoes slid across a small lake.**   
**Children in light orange T-shirts like Grover's ran after each other around a cluster of cottages in the middle of the woods. Some practiced archery on targets. Others rode horses on a wooded trail, and unless I was hallucinating, some horses had wings.**   
**At the end of the porch, two men were seated facing each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who had fed me spoonfuls of popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the railing on the porch next to them.**   
**The man facing me was small, but plump. He had a red nose, big tearful eyes and curly hair so black it was almost purple. It looked like one of those baby angel paintings, what are they called ... surubins? No, cherubs. It is. He looked like a cherub who reached middle age at a trailer camp.**

\- That boy has a problem. Compare you to an angel-Said Hera to Dionysus.

  
**He wore a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt and it would have fit perfectly on one of Gabe's poker wheels, only I had a feeling this guy might have won even from my stepfather.**   
**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. - He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl is Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than most people. And you already know Chiron ...**   
**He pointed to the guy with his back to me.**   
**First, I realized that he was sitting in a wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed coat, the thin brown hair, the unkempt beard.**   
**\- Mr. Brunner! I exclaimed.**

**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes were with that mischievous gleam of when he did a surprise test and all the answers of the multiple choice were B.**   
**"Ah, well, Percy," he said. - Now we have four for the pinochle.**   
**He offered me a chair to Mr. D's right, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and let out a big breath.**   
**\- Ah, I suppose I must say this. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. Ready. Now, don't expect me to be happy to see you.**   
**\- Uh, thanks.**   
**I quickly moved away from him a little bit, because if there was one thing I had learned from Gabe, it was to recognize when an adult had been taking them over and over. If Mr. D was an abstainer, I was a satyr.**

"If only I could drink," said Dionysus in anguish.

**\- Annabeth? - Mr. Brunner called the blonde girl.**   
**She stepped forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us.**   
**"This young lady took care of you until you were well, Percy." Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check Percy's bunk? We will install it in cottage 11 for now.**   
**Annabeth replied:**   
**\- Of course, Chiron.**   
**She was probably about my age, maybe an inch taller, and she looked a lot more athletic.**   
**With her intense tan and curly blond hair, it was almost exactly as I imagined a typical California girl, except for her eyes, that ruined that image. They were surprisingly gray, like storm clouds; beautiful, but also intimidating, as if she was analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.**

"My daughter," said Athena-Annabeth Chase.

**She took a look at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back to me.**   
**I figured I was going to say, "You killed a minotaur! Ouch, you're so scary!" Or something like that. Instead, she said:**   
**\- You drool while sleeping.**

Everyone laughed at their thrones.

**Then she ran across the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.**   
**"So," I said, eager to change the subject, "do you, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"**   
**\- Mr. Brunner does not - corrected the ex-Mr. Brunner. - Sorry, it was a pseudonym. You can call me Chiron.**   
**\- Combined. - Totally confused, I looked at the director. - And Mr. D ... means something?**

"He's slower than a door," said Artemis.  
-Doors don't think sis.  
-Exact!.

**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me as if I had just burped loudly.**   
**\- Little boy, names are powerful things. You just don't go around using them for no reason.**   
**\- Ah. Right. Excuse me.**   
**"I must say, Percy," interrupted Chiron-Brunner, "that I am happy to see you alive." It's been a long time since I did a home care to a potential camper. I would hate to think that I had wasted my time.**   
**\- Home care?**   
**\- The year I spent at Yancy Academy to instruct you. We have satyrs on standby in most schools, of course. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met him. He felt that you were special, so I decided to go there. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence.**   
**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed so long ago, but I had a vague memory of another Latin teacher in my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he disappeared and Mr. Brunner took over the class.**   
**\- Did you go to Yancy just to teach me? - I asked.**   
**Chiron nodded.**   
**\- Honestly, at first I wasn't very sure about you. We contacted your mother, informed you that we were watching you, in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had a lot to learn. Nevertheless, he arrived here alive, and this is always the first test.**   
**"Grover," called Mr. D impatiently, "are you going to play or not?"**   
**\- Yes sir!**   
**Grover shivered as he sat in the fourth chair, although I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.**   
**\- Do you know how to play pinochle? Asked Mr. D, looking at me suspiciously.**   
**"Unfortunately not," I said.**   
**"Unfortunately not, sir," he corrected.**   
**\- Sir - I repeated.**   
**He was liking the camp director less and less.**

-Go to the last place in line-Said the god of wine.

**\- Well - he told me - this is, together with gladiator fights and Pac-Man, one of the best games ever invented by humans. He imagined that all civilized youth knew the rules.**   
**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.**   
**\- Please, what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun ... Chiron, why would you go to the Yancy Academy just to teach me?**   
**Mr. D snorted.**   
**\- I asked the same question.**   
**The camp director gave the cards. Grover cringed every time one fell into his pile.**   
**Chiron smiled at me understandingly, as he used to do in Latin class to tell me that whatever my grade was, I was his most important student. He expected me to have the right answer.**   
**"Percy," he said, "didn't your mother tell you anything?"**   
**\- She said ... - I remembered her sad eyes, looking at the sea. -She told me that she was afraid to send me here, although my father wanted her to do that. He said that once he was here, he probably couldn't leave. I wanted to keep close to her.**   
**"Typical," said Mr. D, "that's how they are usually killed." Little boy, are you going to bid or not?**   
**\- What?**   
**He explained, impatiently, how to make a move on Pinochet, and I did.**   
**"I'm sorry, but there are too many things to tell," said Chiron. - I am afraid that our orientation film is not enough.**   
**\- Orientation film? - I repeated.**   
**"No," concluded Chiron. - Well, Percy. You know that your friend Grover is a satyr. You know - he pointed to the horn in the shoe box - that you killed Minotaur. And it's not a small feat, boy. What you may not know is that great forces are at work in your life. The gods - the forces you call the Greek gods - are very much alive.**   
**I looked at the others around the table.**   
**I waited for someone to shout, No! But all I heard was Mr. D shouting:**   
**\- Oh, a royal wedding. Truco! Truco!**   
**He laughed as he counted the points.**

-I always win Quiron !.

**"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if I'm not going to eat it, can I have your can of Diet Coke?"**   
**\- Huh? Ah, well.**   
**Grover bit a large piece of the empty aluminum can and chewed sadly.**   
**\- Wait - I said to Chiron - are you telling me that there is something like God?**   
**"Well, come on," Chiron said. - God - with a capital D, God, it's another matter. We will not deal with the metaphysical.**   
**\- Metaphysical? But you were talking about ...**   
**\- Ah, gods, in the plural, great beings who control the forces of nature and human endeavors; the immortal gods of Olympus. This is a minor issue.**   
**\- Smaller?**   
**\- Yes, a lot. The gods we discussed in the Latin class.**   
**\- Zeus - I remembered. - Ivy. Apollo. You mean, those.**

"Does he quote his cousin and uncle and forget his own father?" Poseidon exclaimed, impressed.

**And again, there was a distant thunderstorm on a cloudless day.**   
**"Little boy," said Mr. D, "if I were you, I would be less reckless about keeping those names out there."**   
**\- But they are stories. They are ... myths, to explain the lightning, the seasons and everything. That was what people believed before science emerged.**   
**\- Science! - mocked Mr. D. - And tell me, Perseus Jackson - I cringed when he said my real name, which he had never told anyone**

**-How strange, a son of Poseidon, with the same name as a hero, son of Zeus-Said Hecate-E Sally must have paid tribute.**   
**\- what will people think of your “science” thousands of years from now? Hmm ... they will call it primitive bullshit. That is what they will think. Ah, I love mortals ... they have no sense of perspective. They think they have come soooo far. And they arrived, Chiron? Look at that boy and tell me.**   
**"Percy," said Chiron, "you can choose to believe it or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? To exist, as you are, for all eternity?**   
**I was about to reply, without thinking, that it sounded like a very good deal, but Chiron's tone of voice made me hesitate.**   
**"You mean, whether people believe you or not," I understood.**   
**\- Exactly. If you were a god, would you like to be called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson that people will one day call you a myth, created just to explain how little boys can survive the loss of their mothers?**   
**My heart raced. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I was not going to let him do it. I replied:**   
**\- I wouldn't like that. But I don't believe in gods.**   
**"Oh, it's better," murmured Mr. D., "before one of them incinerates him."**   
**Grover intervened:**   
**\- P-please, sir. He just lost his mother. He's in shock.**   
**"Lucky, too," mumbled Mr. D, playing a card**

\- Lucky to lose the mother? Have you lost your mind ?! - Hera said impatiently.

 **\- It's really bad to be confined to this depressing job, with boys who don't even have faith!**  
 **He waved and a glass appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had momentarily bent and turned the air into glass. The glass was filled with red wine.**  
 **My jaw dropped, but Chiron barely looked up.**  
 **"Mr D," he warned, "your restrictions."**  
 **Mr. D looked at the wine and pretended to be surprised.**  
 **\- Now look. - He looked at the sky and shouted: - Old habits! Excuse me!**  
 **More thunder**.

-Old talkative. "Old habits," said Apollo.

**Mr. D waved again and the glass of wine turned into a new can of Diet Coke. He sighed, unhappy, opened the can and went back to his card game.**   
**Chiron winked at me.**   
**\- Mr. D irritated his father some time ago, he was attracted to a forest nymph who had been declared inaccessible.**   
**"A forest nymph," I repeated, still looking at Diet Coke as if it had come from the cosmos.**   
**\- Yes - confessed Mr. D. - The father loves to punish me. The first time, ban. Horrible! Absolutely terrible ten years! The second time ... well, she was really beautiful, I couldn't stay away ... the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for kids like you. "Be a better influence," he told me. "Work with young people instead of killing them." Ah! What an injustice.**

"I feel sorry for these children," said Hades.

**Mr. D looked to be six years old, like a little kid making fun of.**

-I hate this boy more and more.

  
"You hate all demigods," Demeter recalled.

**\- And ... - I stammered - your father is ...**   
**-Di immotales, Chiron - said Mr. D. - I thought you had taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course.**   
**I went over the names started in D from Greek mythology. Wine. The tiger print. The satyrs who all seemed to be working here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.**   
**\- You are Dionysus - I said - the god of wine.**   
**Mr. D rolled his eyes.**   
**\- How do they say today, Grover? Do the children say, "Are you serious"?**   
**\- Y-yes, Mr. D.**   
**\- So come on, Percy Jackson. Found what; that I was Aphrodite?**   
**\- You are a god.**   
**\- Yes, child.**   
**\- A God. You.**

-He can't believe it. He needs to face reality, said Athena. We are real.

**He turned to look directly at me, and I saw a kind of purple fire in his eyes, an indication that that plump, plump little man was only showing me a tiny part of his true nature. I saw visions of vineyards strangling unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with the excitement of battle, sailors screaming as their hands turned into fins, faces stretching into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pressed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. I was going to plant a disease in my brain that would cause me to wear a straitjacket for the rest of my life.**

-A God. I-Said Dionysus.

**\- Would you like to test me, child? He asked in a low voice.**   
**\- No. No, sir.**   
**The fire died down a little. He returned to the card game.**   
**\- I think I won.**   
**"Not exactly, Mr. D," Chiron disagreed. He downloaded a sequence, counted the points and said: - The game is mine.**   
**I thought Mr. D was going to turn Chiron into dust in his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he was used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got to his feet, and Grover stood up too.**   
**\- I'm tired. I think I'm going to take a nap before tonight's singing. But first, Grover, we need to talk again about your imperfect performance on that mission.**   
**Grover's face covered with beads of sweat.**   
**\- Y-yes, sir.**   
**Mr. D turned to me.**   
**\- Cottage 11, Percy Jackson. And watch your manners.**   
**He stepped back into the house, with Grover following him, devastated.**   
**\- Is Grover going to be okay? - I asked Chiron.**   
**Chiron nodded, although he looked a little disturbed.**   
**\- Old Dionysus is not really angry. He just hates his job. He was ... uh, confined to Earth, you might say, and he can't stand to have to wait another century before being allowed to return to Olympus.**   
**\- Mount Olympus. Are you telling me that there really is a palace there?**   
**\- Well, there is Mount Olympus in Greece. And there is the home of the gods, the point of convergence of their powers, which in fact used to be on Mount Olympus. It is still called Mount Olympus, out of respect for traditions, but the palace moves, Percy, as do the gods.**   
**\- You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in the United States?**   
**\- Well, certainly. The gods change with the heart of the West.**   
**\- What?**

**\- Come on, Percy. What you call "western civilization". Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it is a living force. A collective consciousness that burned brilliantly for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You can even say that they are your source or, at least, that they are so closely linked to it that they will possibly not cease to exist, unless all Western civilization is destroyed. The flame started in Greece. So, as you well know ... or I hope you do, since you passed my course ... the heart of the flame moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Ah, with different names, perhaps: Jupiter instead of Zeus, Venus instead of Aphrodite, and so on; but the same forces, the same gods.**   
**\- And then they died.**   
**\- Did they die? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for some time. Wherever the flame shone most, there were the gods. They spent several centuries in England. All you need is to look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Everywhere you have reigned for the past three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, in the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in the United States. Look at the symbol of the country, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus at Rockfeller Center, at the facades of government buildings in Washington. I challenge you to find any American city where Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple locations. Like it or not - and believe me, a lot of people didn't like Rome very much either - the United States is now the heart of the flame. They are the great power of the West. And therefore, Olympus is here. And we are here.**   
**It was all too much for me, especially the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's knot, as if I were part of the same club.**   
**\- Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?**   
**Chiron smiled. He shifted his position, as if he were going to get up from the wheelchair, but I knew it was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.**

**-Still have that detail, explain that I walk, in a way say.**

**\- Who are you? - he was thoughtful. - Well, that's the question we all want to be answered, isn't it? But for now, we have to find you a bunk in cottage 11. There will be new friends there to meet. And free time for classes tomorrow. In addition, there will be treats around the fire tonight, and I just love chocolate.**   
**And then he got up from the wheelchair. But there was something strange about the way he did it. The blanket fell off the legs, but they did not move. The waist grew longer, rising above the belt. At first I thought he was wearing very long white velvet underwear, but as he rose from the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear was not underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscles and tendons under a rough white fur. And the wheelchair was not a chair. It was some kind of container, a huge box on wheels, and it must have been magical, because there was no way it could contain it whole. One leg came out, long and with a protruding knee, with a large polished hoof. Then another front leg, then the back, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a pair of human legs attached.**   
**I looked at the horse that had just jumped out of the wheelchair: a huge white steed. But where my neck was supposed to be, my Latin teacher's upper body was gently grafted onto the horse's trunk.**   
**"What a relief," said the centaur. - I was confined so long inside that my joints fell asleep. Now come on, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers.**

-We will meet our children in the future-Said Demeter anxiously.


	8. Chapter 6

"My transformation into the Supreme Lord of the Bathroom-Leu Persephone-Will he run a bathroom? Is that it?"

**After I assimilated the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, we had a pleasant walk, although I was careful not to chase after him.**

-He thinks I'm a barbarian? -Chiron said outraged-I have manners.

**He had taken part in the scouting rounds a few times to collect dog poop at the Thanksgiving Parade at the Macy's store and, I'm sorry to say, I didn't trust Chiron's back as much as I trusted the front one.**   
**We passed the volleyball court. Several campers were nudging each other. One of them pointed at the minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said:**

**\- It's him.**

-Mal arrived and is already famous-Said Dionísio-This will cause a problem.  
-Which brother, did he defeat Minotaur? - Hermes said.

**Most campers were older than me. His satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all trotting back and forth in orange T-shirts from the HALF-BLOOD CAMP, with nothing to cover their hairy rears. I wasn't normally shy, but the way they looked at me made me uncomfortable. It was like they expected me to somersault or something.**   
**I looked at the farmhouse behind me. It was much bigger than I had thought - four floors, sky blue with a white finish, like a first-class seaside resort hotel.**   
**I was checking the eagle-shaped brass vane at the top when something caught my eye, a shadow on the top attic window. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I had the distinct impression that I was being watched.**

-What will it be? -You wanted to know Athena.

\- What's up there? - I asked Chiron.  
He looked at where I was pointing and his smile disappeared  
\- Just the attic.

**\- Does anyone live there?**   
**"No," he said in a definite tone. - Not a single living thing.**   
**I had the feeling that he was speaking the truth. But I was also sure that something had moved that curtain.**

-The camp changed, that tree first appeared, and now someone is dead in the attic.  
-It's normal Chiron, that happens forty-eight years ago - Hecate explained-There will be many surprises along the way.

**"Come on, Percy," Chiron said, his carefree tone a little forced now, "there's a lot to see."**   
**We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers picked bushels of strawberries while a satyr played a tune on a bamboo flute.**   
**Chiron told me that the camp was growing a beautiful crop to export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus.**   
**"Pay our expenses," he explained, "and strawberries require almost no effort."**   
**He said that Mr. D had this effect on fruit plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with the vines, but Mr. D was forbidden to grow them, so instead they planted strawberries.**   
**I watched the satyr playing the flute. The music caused rows of insects to come out of the strawberry beds in all directions, as if fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could do that kind of magic with music. I wondered if he was still inside the house, scolding Mr. D.**   
**"Grover's not going to be in too much trouble, is he?" - I asked Chiron. - I mean ... he was a good protector. No doubt.**   
**Chiron sighed. He took off his tweed coat and tossed it over his horse's back, like a saddle.**   
**\- Grover dreams big, Percy. Perhaps higher than would be reasonable. To achieve his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a guardian, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill.**   
**\- But he did it!**   
**\- I could agree with you - Chiron replied - but it is not for me to judge. Dionysus and the Split-Hoof Elders Council must decide. I'm afraid they may not see this mission as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York, there's the unfortunate ... uh ... your mother's fate. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the edge of the property. The board may question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part.**   
**I wanted to protest. Nothing that had happened had been Grover's fault. I also felt very, very guilty. If he hadn't escaped from Grover at the bus station, he might not have been in trouble.**

-The satyr is not to blame for having crashed the car, for he passed out, due to his lightning Zeus-exclaimed Poseidon angrily.  
-You will not forget that, it was just a lightning bolt, and he didn't even scratch himself on the beat-Zeus claimed without patience.

\- **He'll have a second chance, won't he?**  
 **Chiron withdrew.**

**\- Unfortunately, that was Grover's second chance, Percy. Furthermore, the board was not very eager to give it another chance after what happened the first time, five years ago. Olympus knows, I advised you to wait longer before trying again. He is still too small for his age.**   
**\- How old is he?**   
**\- Ah, twenty-eight.**   
**\- What! And are you still in sixth grade?**   
**\- Satyrs mature twice as long as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a high school student in the past six years.**   
**\- What a horrible thing.**   
**"Indeed," agreed Chiron, "in any case, Grover is late, even by satyr standards, and has not yet advanced much in forest magic." The poor man was anxious to pursue his dream. Maybe now I will find some other career ...**   
**\- That's not fair! What happened the first time? Was it really that bad?**   
**Chiron quickly looked away.**

-I ... I think the camper Grover was carrying died-Said Artemis-There is no other explanation.

**\- Let's go?**   
**But I was not yet ready to change the subject. One thing had occurred to me when Chiron spoke of my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word death. The beginning of an idea - a small, hopeful flame - started to form in my head.**   
**\- Chiron. If the gods, Olympus and all that are real ...**   
**\- Yes, child?**   
**\- Does this mean that the Underworld is also real?**

-Don't invent - Said Hades-The best he does, is to stay away from my domains.  
-In addition to the fact that you wanted to kill him, he killed his mother-said Nemesis.

**Chiron's expression closed.**   
**\- Yes, child. He paused, as if he were choosing his words carefully. - There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would recommend that you get this out of your head.**   
**\- What do you mean "until we know more"?**   
**\- Come on, Percy. Let's see the woods.**   
**As we approached, I realized how huge the forest was. It took at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and wide that the impression was that no one had entered there since the Native Americans.**   
**Chiron said:**   
**\- The woods have provisions, if you want to try your luck, but armed, of course.**   
**\- Provisions of what? - I asked. - Armed with what?**   
**\- You will see. The Capture the Flag game is on Friday night.**

-Some things do not change-Said Apolo-I love this game.

**Do you have your own sword and shield?**   
**\- My own...?**   
**\- No. I don't think so. I think size five will do. Later I will visit the arsenal.**   
**I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp has an arsenal, but there was a lot more to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery line, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron seemed not to like very much), the javelin, the amphitheater and the arena where Chiron said they were carrying out sword fights and spears.**   
**\- Sword and spear fights? - I asked.**   
**"Challenges between cottages and things like that," he explained, "are not lethal. Normally. Oh yes, and there is also the cafeteria.**   
**Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed by white Greek columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. Without a roof. No walls.**   
**\- What do you do when it rains?**   
**Chiron looked at me as if I had gone a little crazy.**   
**\- We still have to eat, don't we?**   
**I decided to let it go.**   
**Finally, he showed me the cottages. There were twelve of them nestled in the woods by the lake.**

  
Nemesis, Hecate, Hestia, felt uncomfortable, they didn't own a chalet. They thought this was wrong, just because they were minor goddesses, but they could not do anything, the law of the Olympians was the one that prevailed.

**They were arranged in a U shape, two in the front and five in a row on each side. And it was, without a doubt, the strangest set of buildings I have ever seen. Except for the fact that each had a large number of brass above the door (odd on the left, odd on the right), they were totally different from each other. Number 9 had chimneys like a tiny factory.**

"Mine," said Hephaestus.

**Number 4 had tomatoes on the walls and a cover made of real grass. The 7 looked like it was made of solid gold that shone so brightly in the sunlight that it was almost impossible to look at.**   
**They all looked out onto a common area about the size of a football field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds and a pair of basketball hoops (which was more like my beach). In the center of the field was a huge area of stones with a fire. Even though it was a hot afternoon, the fire was burning slowly.**   
**A girl about nine years old was taking care of the flames, poking the coals with a stick.**   
**The pair of chalets at the head of the field, numbers 1 and 2, looked like small mausoleums, large white marble boxes with heavy columns in front.**   
**Cottage 1 was the largest and most magnificent of the twelve.**   
**The polished bronze doors gleamed like a hologram, so that, seen from different angles, rays seemed to pass through them. Cottage 2 was somewhat more graceful, with thinner columns topped with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.**   
**\- Zeus and Hera? - I guessed.**   
**\- Right.**   
**\- The cottages look empty.**   
**\- Several cottages are empty, it is true. Nobody is ever on the 1 or 2.**

-I haven't gotten used to it yet, I mean, not having children- Said the god of the heavens.

**Right. So each cottage had a different god as a mascot and cottages for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty?**   
**I stopped in front of the first cottage on the left, number 3. It was not as tall and imposing as cottage 1, but long, short and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stones dotted with pieces of shells and coral, as if the stones had been cut directly from the ocean floor.**   
**I peered into the open door and Chiron said:**   
**\- Ih, I wouldn't do that!**   
**Before he could pull me back, I smelled the salty smell of the interior, like the wind on Montauk beach. The inner walls shone like mother-of-pearl. There were six empty bunks with downward-facing silk sheets. But there was no indication that anyone had ever slept there. The place looked so sad and lonely that I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder.**   
**\- Come on, Percy.**   
**Most of the other cottages were packed with campers.**   
**Number 5 was bright red - a very sloppy painting, as if the color had been tossed around with buckets and hands. The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed boar's head hung above the door and his eyes seemed to follow me**

\- An Ares boar, really? - Aphrodite gasped.

. **Inside, I could see a bunch of bad-looking boys and girls, fighting arm wrestling and arguing while rock played high. The loudest was a girl of maybe thirteen or fourteen. He wore a GGG-sized HALF-BLUE CAMP t-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She looked at me and gave me a mean look of contempt. It reminded me of Nancy Bobofit, only the camp girl was much bigger and more cruel looking, her hair was long, straight and brown, instead of red.**  
 **I kept walking, trying to stay away from Chiron's hooves.**  
 **"We haven't seen the centaurs yet," I observed.**  
 **"No," said Chiron, upset. - Unfortunately, my relatives are wild and barbaric people. You can find them in the bush or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here.**  
 **\- You said your name is Chiron. You really are...**  
 **He smiled at me.**  
 **\- The Chiron of the stories? Hercules instructor and all that? Yes, Percy, I am.**  
 **\- But shouldn't you be dead?**  
 **Chiron paused, as if the question puzzled him.**  
 **\- Honestly, I don't know anything about should. The truth is, I can't be dead. Understand, ages ago the gods granted my wish. I was able to continue the work I loved. I was able to be a master of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained a lot from that desire ... and gave up a lot. But I'm still here, so I can only assume that I'm still needed.**  
 **I thought about being a three thousand year old teacher. That would not be on my Top Ten Most Wanted list.**  
 **\- Does it never get boring?**  
 **\- No, no. Horribly depressing at times, but never boring.**  
 **\- Why depressing?**

  
"His slowness amazes me," said Hera.

**Chiron seemed to be hearing impaired again.**   
**\- Ah, look - he noticed - Annabeth is waiting for us.**   
**The blonde girl I had met at Casa Grande was reading a book in front of the last cottage on the left, number 11.**   
**When we approached, she looked at me critically, as if she was still thinking about how I drooled.**   
**I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought it was my dyslexia in action. Then I realized that the title was not even in English. The letters sounded Greek to me. I mean, literally Greek. There were figures of temples and statues and different types of columns, as in an architectural book.**

**"Annabeth," said Chiron, "I have a bow and arrow lesson for masters at noon." Would you take care of Percy from here?**   
**\- Yes sir.**   
**\- Cottage 11 - Chiron spoke to me, gesturing towards the door. - Make yourself at home.**

\- Eleven for now.  
-Just if you claim him uncle-Apollo remembered.

**Among all the cottages, 11 was what looked more like an ordinary old summer camp cottage, with a new emphasis. The doorway was worn, the paint brown, peeling. Above the doorway was one of those medical symbols, a winged staff with two snakes wrapped around it. What did you call that? A caduceus.**   
**Inside, it was packed with people, boys and girls in far greater numbers than the bunks.**

-And the rest? Where do you sleep? ”Ares asked.  
-Where they fit-said Hermes-Because I am god of travelers, demigods who have not been claimed, or who have minor parents, stay in my cottage. The issue is space.

**Sleeping bags were strewn all over the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had established a refugee center.**   
**Chiron did not enter. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him, they all stood up and bowed respectfully.**   
**"Okay, then," said Chiron. - Good luck, Percy. See you at dinner.**   
**He galloped off to the archery line.**   
**I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They were no longer bowing. They looked at me, measuring me with their eyes. I know this routine. He had gone through it in many schools.**   
**"Okay," prompted Annabeth. - Go ahead.**   
**So, naturally, I stumbled through the door and played a complete fool. There were some giggles from the campers, but none of them said anything.**   
**Annabeth announced:**   
**\- Percy Jackson, introduce Chalet 11.**   
**\- Normal or indeterminate? Asked someone.**   
**I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth replied:**   
**\- Undetermined.**   
**Everyone groaned.**   
**A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward.**   
**\- Come on, come on, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor right there.**   
**The guy was about nineteen and looked really cool. He was tall and muscular, with short sandy-colored hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cropped pants, sandals and a leather necklace with five clay beads in different colors. The only thing disturbing in his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just below his right eye to his chin, like an old knife cut.**   
**"This is Luke," Annabeth introduced, and her voice seemed to change slightly.**

-She likes him-Said Hestia laughing-But it's kind of new for him, isn't it? .  
"Don't worry," said Aphrodite, knowing who Annabeth would be staying with. That would cause problems.

**I took a look at it and could have sworn it was turning red. She saw me looking and her expression hardened again.**   
**\- He's your advisor for now.**   
**\- For now? - I asked.**   
**"You are indeterminate," explained Luke patiently. - They do not know which cottage to accommodate you, so you are here. Cottage 11 welcomes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers.**   
**I looked at the tiny floor space they gave me. I had nothing to put there and mark it as mine, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag.**   
**Only the Minotaur's horn. I thought about putting him there, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.**   
**I scanned the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, others with an idiotic smile, some looking at me as if waiting for an opportunity to clean my pockets.**   
**\- How long will I be here? - I asked.**   
**\- Good question. Until you are determined - Luke replied.**   
**\- How long will this take?**   
**The campers all laughed.**

-Never!.

**"Come," said Annabeth. - I'll show you the volleyball court.**   
**\- I already saw.**   
**\- Come on.**   
**She grabbed my wrist and dragged me out. I could hear the folks in the cottage laughing behind me.**   
**When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said:**   
**\- Jackson, you need to do better than that.**   
**\- What?**   
**She rolled her eyes and murmured under her breath:**   
**\- I can't believe I thought you were the guy.**   
**\- What's your problem? - I was getting angry now. - All I know is that I killed a bull guy ...**   
**\- Not talk like that! Do you know how many in this camp would like to have had their chance?**   
**\- To be killed?**   
**\- To face the Minotaur! What do you think we are trained for?**

-Have a mission is their dream-explained Quiron-They wait for years.

**I shook my head.**   
**\- Look, if the thing I fought was really the Minotaur, the same as the stories ...**   
**\- Yes.**   
**\- So there's only one.**   
**\- Yes.**   
**\- And he died, like a zillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the maze. Therefore...**   
**\- Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die.**

-His brain does not process certain information-said Athena with superior air.  
She already hated the boy, just for being Poseidon's son.

 **\- Ah thank you. Now I understand everything.**  
 **\- They have no soul, like you and me. You can ban them for a while, maybe even a lifetime, if you're lucky. But they are primitive forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. In the end, they reconstitute themselves.**  
 **I thought of Mrs. Dodds.**  
 **\- You mean if I accidentally killed one with a sword ...**  
 **\- To Fúr ... I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very angry.**  
 **\- How do you know about Mrs. Dodds?**  
 **\- You speak in your sleep.**  
 **\- You almost called her something. A Fury? They are torturers of Hades, right?**  
 **Annabeth looked nervously at the floor, as if she expected him to open up and swallow her.**  
 **\- You shouldn't call them by name, even here. If we end up having to talk about them, we think of them as the Benevolents.**  
 **\- Wow, is there anything that can be said without thunder? - I sounded complaining, even to myself, but at that moment I didn't care. - Why do I have to stay in cottage 11, anyway? Why is everyone huddled together? There are a lot of empty bunks right there.**  
 **I pointed to the first cottages and Annabeth paled.**  
 **\- We don't just choose a cottage, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent.**  
 **She stared at me, waiting for me to understand.**  
 **"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said. - Works at the Grand Central Station candy store. At least it worked.**  
 **\- I'm sorry for your mother, Percy. But that is not what I meant. I'm talking about your other parent. Your father.**  
 **\- He is dead. I didn't get to know him.**  
 **Annabeth sighed. It was clear that he had already had that conversation with other children.**  
 **\- Your father is not dead, Percy.**  
 **\- How can you say that? Do you know him?**  
 **\- No, of course not.**  
 **\- So how can you say ...**  
 **\- Because I know you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us.**  
 **\- You don't know anything about me.**  
 **\- No? She raised an eyebrow. - I bet you went from** school to school. I bet you got kicked out of a lot of them.  
 **\- How...**  
 **\- He was diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably attention deficit disorder as well.**  
 **I tried to swallow my embarrassment.**  
 **\- What does this have to do?**  
 **\- All together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? This is because your mind is physically programmed for ancient Greek. And attention deficit disorder ... you are impulsive, you can't keep quiet in class. These are your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they will keep you alive. As for attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, and not too little. His senses are more refined than those of an ordinary mortal. Of course, teachers want you to be medicated. They are mostly monsters. They don't want you to see them as they are.**  
 **\- You look ... did you go through the same things?**  
 **\- Most of the children here have passed. If you weren't one of us, you couldn't have survived Minotaur, let alone ambrosia and nectar.**  
 **\- Ambrosia and nectar.**  
 **\- The food and drink we were giving you to heal you. That would have killed a normal boy. I would have turned your blood into fire and your bones into sand and you would be dead. Face the facts. You are a half-blood.**  
 **A half-blood. My head was spinning with so many questions that I didn't know where to start.**  
 **\- Well well! A newbie!**  
 **I took a look. The big girl from the ugly, red cottage was walking slowly towards us. There were three other girls behind her, all big, ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camouflage coats.**  
 **"Clarisse," sighed Annabeth, "why don't you go polish your spear or something?"**  
 **\- Of course, Miss. Princess - replied the big lady - so I can cross you with her on Friday night.**

-That's it, daughter, win this test-shouted Ares.

**"Erre es korakas!" Said Annabeth, which I somehow understood was "Go to the crows!" in Greek, although I had the feeling that it must be a worse plague than it looked. - You don't stand a chance.**   
**"Let's make it into powder," Clarisse replied, but her eye narrowed.**   
**Perhaps she was not sure that she could carry out the threat. He turned to me.**   
**\- Who is this runt?**   
**"Percy Jackson," said Annabeth, "this is Clarisse, daughter of Ares."**   
**I blinked.**   
**\- Like ... the god of war?**   
**Clarisse smirked.**   
**\- Do you have a problem with that?**   
**"No," I replied, regaining my presence of mind. - That explains the bad smell.**

-He will regret it a lot, said Hermes.

**Clarisse snarled.**   
**\- We have an initiation ceremony for newbies, Persiana.**   
**\- Percy.**   
**\- Whatever it is. Come on, I'll show you.**   
**\- Clarisse ... - Annabeth tried to say.**   
**\- Stay out of it, smartie.**   
**Annabeth looked offended, but she was left out, and I really didn't want her help.**

**I was the rookie. I had to build my own reputation.**   
**I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn and got ready for the fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse had grabbed me by the neck and was dragging myself towards a concrete block building that I immediately realized was the bathroom.**   
**I kicked and punched the air. I had been in many fights before, but that big Clarisse had iron hands. He dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a row of toilets on one side and a row of showers on the other.**

-I already understood the Chapter-Said Apollo-He will take a certain bath, on the head. Great reputation he will have.  
-I bet he will defend himself- said Poseidon.

**It smelled like any public toilet, and I was thinking - as much as I could think with Clarisse pulling my hair out - that if this place belonged to the gods, they should be able to buy better toilets.**   
**Clarisse's friends were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I had used to face the Minotaur, but she just wasn't there.**   
**\- As if he were from the "Big Three" - Clarisse commented, pushing me towards one of the vases.**

-It seems that they were already waiting for him-commented Hades-First when he was found, Annabeth said, it can only be him, then said that, he was not who she expected, and now Clarisse.  
-But they know that, big three cannot have children-Said Hephaestus.

**\- Right. The Minotaur probably burst out laughing, he was so silly he looked.**   
**The friends stifled their laughter.**   
**Annabeth stood in the corner, watching.**   
**Clarisse forced me on my knees and started to push my head into the toilet, which stank of rusty pipes and, well, what goes into toilets. I made an effort to keep my head up. I was looking at the filthy water and thinking: I'm not going to stick my head in it. I will not go.**

**Then something happened. I felt a violent pressure in the pit of my stomach. I heard the plumbing snoring, the pipes shook**

-I said-Poseidon spoke to everyone-He'll teach his daughter Ares a lesson.

. **Clarisse's hand in my hair loosened. The water jumped out of the toilet, forming an arc over my head, and then I found myself sprawled on the tiles of the bathroom floor with Clarisse screaming behind me.**  
 **I turned around just as the water exploded out of the pot again, hitting Clarisse right in the face with such force that it knocked her backwards on the floor. Water continued to gush over her like a jet of a fire hose, pushing it backward into a shower stall.**  
 **She struggled, out of breath, and her friends started to move towards her. But then the other pots exploded as well, and six more jets of toilet water pushed them back. The showers also went into action and, together, all the devices threw the camouflaged girls out of the bathroom, making them swirl like pieces of garbage being removed with water jets.**  
 **As soon as they were put out the door, I felt the pressure in my guts ease, and the water stopped flowing as quickly as it had started.**  
 **The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth had not been spared. It was all wet and dripping, but it hadn't been pushed out. I was standing in exactly the same place looking at me in shock.**  
 **I looked down and realized that I was sitting in the only dry spot in the entire room. There was a circle of dry roads around me. There was not a drop of water on my clothes. Nothing.**  
 **I got up on shaky legs.**  
 **Annabeth asked:**  
 **\- Like you...**  
 **\- I do not know.**  
 **We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were standing in the mud and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to look, puzzled. Clarisse's hair was stuck to her face. The camouflage coat was soaked and it smelled like sewage. She gave me a look of utter hatred.**  
 **\- You're dead, rookie. He's totally dead.**  
 **Maybe I should have let it go, but I said:**  
 **"Do you want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse?" Shut up.**  
 **The friends had to hold it. They dragged her to Cottage 5, while the other campers cleared the way to avoid their kicking members.**  
 **Annabeth looked at me. I couldn't tell if she was just sick or angry with me for soaking her.**  
 **\- What's it? What is thinking?**  
 **\- I'm thinking - she replied - that I want you on my team for the Capture of the Flag.**

\- Really? - asked Apolo-Percy ?.  
-You will see-affirmed Athena -Remember, strategy in battle.


	9. Chapter 7

\- My dinner goes up in smoke-My Hestia.  
-One of the best parts of the day-Saying Apollo Wandering-Sit on the throne, and feel the scent of our children's offerings.

**News of the incident in the bathroom spread at the same time. Wherever I went, the campers were pointing at me and muttering something about toilet water. Or maybe they just looked at Annabeth, who was still soaked.**   
**She showed me a few more places: the forge (where children made their own swords), the arts and crafts room (where satires covered a giant statue of a home-goat with sand), and the wall for climbing, which actually consisted of two walls that shook violently, dropped rocks, spread lava, and collided with each other if we didn't get to the top fast enough.**

**Finally we returned to the side of canoeing, from where the trail led back to the chalets.**   
**\- I have training," Annabeth said dryly. - Dinner's at half past seven. All you have to do is follow the people from the chalet to the cafeteria.**   
**\- Annabeth, sorry about the toilets.**   
**\- It's all right.**   
**\- It wasn't my fault.**   
**She looked at me skeptically and I realized it was my fault. I'd made the water pour into the bathroom. I didn't understand how. But the vases had responded to me.**   
**It was as if I was one of the pipes.**   
**\- You need to talk to the Oracle-Anabeth spoke.**

-Is he in camp? -Sayed Apollo.

**\- Who?**   
**\- Not who. What. The Oracle. I will ask Chiron.**   
**I looked at the lake, wishing someone would give me a straight answer at least once.**   
**I didn't expect anyone to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart jumped when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about 20 feet down. They were wearing sparkling green jeans and T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as little fish passed between them. They smiled and waved as if I were a long lost friend.**

**I didn't know what else to do. I waved back.**   
**\- Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. - Naiads are uncontrollable flirters.**   
**\- Naiads," I repeated, feeling completely astonished. - I've had enough. I want to go home now.**   
**Annabeth frowned.**   
**\- Don't you see, Percy? You're home. This is the only place on earth safe for children like us.**   
**\- You mean mentally disturbed children?**   
**\- I mean not human. Not entirely human, anyway. Half human.**   
**\- Half human and half what?**   
**\- I think you know.**   
**I didn't want to admit it, but I did. I felt a tingling sensation in my limbs, a feeling that sometimes came over me when my mother talked about my father.**   
**\- Goddesses. - I did. - Half goddesses.**

-It was time to drop the chart, less- -I said Ares.

**Annabeth nodded.**   
**\- Your father's not dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians.**   
**\- This is... crazy.**   
**\- Is it? What's the most common thing the gods did in old stories? They were out there falling in love with human beings and having children with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last millennia?**   
**\- But that's just... - I almost said myths again. Then I remembered Chiron's warning that two thousand years from now I could be considered a myth. - But if everyone here is half a god...**   
**\- Semi-gods-Anabeth corrected-that's the official term. Or half-blood.**   
**\- Then who is your father?**   
**Her hands were squeezed around the pier railing. I had the feeling I'd just touched on a delicate matter.**   
**\- My father is a teacher at West Point. I haven't seen him since I was a little girl. He teaches American history.**

-If she hasn't seen her father in years, who did she stay with? -I wanted to know Athena.

**\- He's human.**   
**\- He's human. What? You think he has to be a man god by finding an attractive human woman, not the other way around? Do you know that's machismo?**   
**\- Then who is your mother?**   
**\- Chalet 6.**   
**\- What does that mean?**   
**Annabeth straightened out the body.**   
**\- Athena. Goddess of wisdom and war.**   
**Right, I thought. Why not?**   
**\- What about my father?**   
**\- Undetermined-Anabeth answered-as I told you before. No one knows.**   
**\- Except my mother. She knew.**   
**\- Maybe not, Percy. The gods don't always reveal their identity.**   
**\- My father would have. He loved her.**   
**Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to end my illusions.**   
**\- Perhaps you're right. Maybe he'll send a signal. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a signal claiming you as his son. Sometimes that happens.**   
**\- You mean sometimes it doesn't happen?**   
**Annabeth ran Mao's palm over the railing.**   
**\- The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids, and they don't always... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us.**

-We don't ignore them, but we can't help them directly -Say Poseidon.   
-Explain this to them-Say Quiron-Annabeth is not the first, nor will she be the last, to feel overwhelmed. You have no idea how much grief these young men carry.

**I thought of some of the children I had seen in Hermes' cottage, teenagers who seemed grumpy and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come.**   
**I had met such children at the Yancy Academy, discarded to boarding schools by wealthy parents who did not have time to deal with them. But the gods had to behave better.**   
**\- So I'm stuck here. Is that it? For the rest of my life?**   
**\- It depends," said Annabeth. - Some campers only stay in the summer. If you're Aphrodite or Demeter's son, you're probably not a really powerful force.**

-Irresolent girl-Demeter said.   
And Aphrodite looked at the offended book.

**Monsters can ignore it, and then you can manage with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world for the rest of the year. But for some of us, going out is too dangerous. We have to stay the whole year. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They perceive our presence. They come to challenge us. Most of the time they ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble - about ten or eleven years, but after that many of the demigods come here or are killed. Some manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd recognize them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But few, very few are.**   
**\- So monsters can't come in here?**   
**Annabeth shook her head.**   
**\- Not unless they're intentionally kept in the woods or summoned by someone inside.**   
**\- Why would anyone want to summon a monster?**   
**\- For fighting practice. To play tricks.**   
**\- To play tricks?**   
**\- The point is, borders are closed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just strawberry plantations.**   
**\- So... you're a year-round camper?**   
**Annabeth nodded. From inside the collar of her shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five different colored clay beads. It was exactly like Luke's, only Annabeth's also had a big gold ring stuck in it, like a college ring.**   
**\- I've been here since I was seven," she said.**

-How did she get to the camp alone?said Hades curiously.

**\- Every August, on the last day of the summer session, we get an account for surviving another year. I have been here longer than most counselors, and they are all in college.**   
**\- Why did you come so young?**   
**She turned the ring on her necklace.**   
**\- It's none of your business.**   
**\- Ah. - I stood there for a minute in an awkward silence. - So... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?**   
**\- It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's permission or Chiron's. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer, unless...**   
**\- Unless?**   
**\- That you be granted a mission. But that hardly happens. Last time...**   
**Her voice was fading. I could tell from her tone of voice that the last time hadn't gone very well.**   
**\- Before, when I was sick in the room - I spoke - when you fed me that thing...**   
**\- Ambrosia.**   
**\- Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice.**   
**Annabeth's shoulders contracted.**   
**\- So you know something?**   
**\- Well... no. At my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something about not having much time because of the deadline. What did that mean?**   
**She tightened her fists.**   
**\- I'd like to know. Chiron and the satires know, but they didn't tell me. Something's wrong at Olympus, something very important. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal.**   
**\- You were at Olympus?**   
**\- Some of us, year-round campers... Luke, Clarisse, me and a few others... we went on a tour during the winter solstice. It's when the gods make their grand annual assembly.**   
**\- But... how did you get there?**   
**\- By the Long Island Railway, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State, six hundredth floor - she looked at me like she was sure I already knew that. - You're New Yorker, right?**   
**\- Oh, sure.**   
**As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors at Empire State, but I decided not to comment on that.**   
**\- Soon after the visit," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. Once or twice since then, I've heard satires talking. The most I could deduce was that something important had been stolen. And if it's not returned by the summer solstice, there's gonna be trouble.**

**When you came, I was waiting... I mean... Athena can get along with anyone but Ares. And, of course, she has a rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, other than that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something.**

-So that's it, whoever stole my lightning will give it back by solstice, or I'll start a war. The question of who did this? -Threatened angry Zeus.

I **shook my head. I wish I could help you, but I was hungry, tired and mentally overworked to ask any more questions.**  
 **\- I need to get a mission," Annabeth murmured to herself. - I'm not too young. If only they would tell me what the problem is.**  
 **I smelled barbecue coming from somewhere nearby. Annabeth must have heard my stomach rumble. She told me to go ahead, she'd catch up with me later. I left her on the pier, running my finger across the railing as if drawing a battle plan.**

**Back at the chalet 11, everyone was talking and having fun, waiting for dinner.**   
**For the first time, I noticed that many campers had similar features: pointy noses, arched eyebrows, malicious smiles. They were the kind of kids that teachers would classify as troublemakers. Fortunately, no one paid much attention to me when I went to my place on the ground and dropped myself with the minotaur horn.**   
**The counselor, Luke, approached. He also had the familiar Hermes look. He was disfigured by the scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact.**   
**\- I got you a sleeping bag. And here, I stole some toiletries for you from the camp store.**   
**I couldn't tell if he was kidding about that stealing part.**   
**\- Thank you, sir.**   
**\- No problem. - Luke sat next to me, resting his back against the wall. - Tough first day?**   
**\- I don't belong here, I told you. I don't even believe in gods.**   
**\- It is - he answered - that's how we all started. And then you start believing in them. It doesn't get any easier.**   
**The bitterness in his voice surprised me, because Luke seemed like the carefree type. He seemed like he could handle anything.**   
**\- So your father is Hermes? - I asked.**   
**He pulled a spring knife out of his back pocket, and for a second, I thought he was gonna uncut me, but he just shaved the clay off the sole of his sandal.**   
**\- Yeah, Hermes.**   
**\- The messenger with wings on his feet.**   
**\- That's him. The messenger. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anyone who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying the hospitality of cottage 11. Hermes is not fussy about who he sponsors.**   
**I understood Luke didn't want to call me a nobody. I just had a lot on my mind.**   
**\- Have you found your father yet? - I asked.**   
**\- Once.**   
**I waited, thinking if he wanted to tell me, he would. Apparently not. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got that scar.**

-He hates me! The question is why, Hermes said.

**Luke raised his eyes and managed to smile.**   
**\- Don't worry about it, Percy. Most of the campers here are good people. After all, we are one big family, right? We take care of each other.**   
**He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, because an older guy like him-even being a counselor-must have been avoiding a boring sidekick like me. But Luke had welcomed me to the chalet. I'd even stolen a few toilet articles, which was the nicest thing anyone had done for me all day.**   
**I decided to ask my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon.**   
**\- Clarisse, from Ares, debated about me being one of the Big Three. And then..,**   
**Annabeth... she said twice that I could be "the guy. She said I should talk to the Oracle. What does that all mean?**   
**Luke closed the penknife.**   
**\- I hate prophecies.**   
**\- What does that mean?**   
**His face shook around the scar.**   
**\- Let's just say I complicated things for everyone else. For the past two years, since my trip to the Garden of Hesperides, Chiron has authorized no more missions.**

**-It must have been something very serious, two years without prophecy-Aphrodite.**   
**Annabeth is dying to go out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much that he finally said he already knew his destiny. He had received a prophecy from the Oracle. I didn't want to tell her everything, but he said that Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a mission yet. She had to wait until... someone special came to the camp.**   
**\- Someone special?**   
**\- Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. - Annabeth wants to think that every new camper who comes here is the omen she's expecting. Now come on, it's dinnertime.**   
**The moment he said that, a trumpet sounded in the distance. Somehow I knew it was made from a sea shell, though I'd never heard one before.**   
**Luke screamed:**   
**\- Eleven, assemble!**

**The whole chalet, about twenty of us, formed a line in the courtyard. We queued in order of seniority, so of course I was the last. Campers also came from other chalets, with the exception of the three empty ones at the end and chalet 8, which seemed normal during the day but now began to have a silvery glow as the sun set.**   
**We marched up the hill to the dining hall. Satires came from the meadow and joined us. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. Some other girls came out of the woods - and when I say the woods, I mean the woods themselves. I saw a nine- or ten-year-old girl fuse off the side of a ledge and come jumping up the hill.**   
**In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satires, and a dozen varied nymphs and naiads.**   
**In the pavilion, torches burned around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each chalet had its own table, covered with a white towel with purple details. Four tables were empty, but the one in cottage 11 was overcrowded. I had to squeeze myself on the end of a stool, with half of my butt outside.**   
**I saw Grover sitting at table 12, and a couple of chubby blond boys looking just like Mr. D.**

Dionysus gave a simple smile, the mention of his children.

**Chiron stood next to him as the picnic table was too small for a centaur.**   
**Annabeth sat down at table 6 with a bunch of serious-looking athletic children, all with gray eyes and honey-colored blond hair.**   
**Clarisse sat behind me at Ares' table. She seemed to have recovered from the bath, as she was laughing and burping next to her friends.**   
**Finally, Chiron hit the hull against the marble floor of the pavilion and everyone kept quiet. He raised a glass.**   
**\- To the gods!**   
**Everyone raised their glasses.**   
**\- To the gods!**   
**Nymphs from the woods came forward with trays of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread and, yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said:**   
**\- Talk to him. Anything you wanted. Non-alcoholic, of course.**   
**\- Cherry Coke - I did.**   
**The glass was filled with caramel-colored foaming liquid.**   
**So I had an idea.**   
**\- Cherry Coke blue.**   
**The soda took on a shrieking cobalt tone.**   
**I took a cautious sip. Perfect.**   
**I made a toast to my mother.**   
**She's not gone, I told myself. Anyway, not forever. She's in the Underworld. And if it's a real place, then someday...**   
**\- Go, Percy," said Luke, "pass me a smoked-breasted platter.**   
**I filled my plate and was about to have a big bite when I noticed everyone getting up, taking their plates to the fire in the center of the pavilion. I wondered if they were getting dessert or something.**   
**\- Come on - Luke called me.**   
**When I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking something from the plate and throwing it into the fire, the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of meat, the hottest and buttery bread.**   
**Luke murmured in my ear:**   
**\- Burnt offerings to the gods. They like the smell.**   
**\- I mean it!**   
**His gaze warned me not to mock it, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burnt food.**   
**Luke approached the fire, bowed his head and threw a bunch of fat, red grapes.**   
**\- Hermes.**   
**I was next.**   
**I'd like to know the name of which god I should say.**   
**I ended up making a silent request. Whoever you are, tell me. Please.**   
**I pushed a big slice of chest into the flames. When I inhaled a little smoke, I didn't choke. It didn't smell like burnt food at all. It smelled like hot chocolate and freshly baked brownies, grilled hamburgers and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone together, but they did.**

"Does it smell like a rat?"  
"Who's gonna throw a mouse to a god?"  
-George and Marta. -Freeze, then I'll give you a mouse.   
"The fat ones."

**You'd think the gods could live off that smoke. After everyone got back to their seats and finished eating, Chiron hit the hull again to get our attention.**   
**Mr. D rose with a huge sigh.**   
**\- Yeah, I suppose I should say hello to all you kids. Well, hello. Our director of activities, Chiron, says the next flag catch will be on Friday. Currently, chalet 5 holds the laurels.**   
**A lot of shapeless applause has risen from Ares' table.**   
**\- Personally," continued Mr. D, "I don't mind a bit, but congratulations. I must also tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson.**

-You always miss Quiron with a scolding look.

**Chiron mumbled something.**

**\- Uh, Percy Jackson - corrected Mr. D. - That's right. Hey, and everything else. Now they're running to his silly bonfire. Come on.**   
**Everybody cheered. We headed for the amphitheatre, where Apollo's chalet led the singing. We sang camp songs about the gods, ate nonsense and had fun, and the funny thing was I didn't feel anyone else looking at me. It was like being at home.**   
**More at night, when the sparks from the bonfire coiled up in a starry sky, the shell trumpet sounded again, and we all lined up to return to our chalets. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed into my borrowed sleeping bag.**   
**My fingers closed around Minotaur's horn. I thought about my mother, but had good thoughts: her smile, the stories she read to me before going to bed when I was little, the way she told me not to let the bedbugs bite.**   
**When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly.**   
**That was my first day at Half-Blood Camp.**   
**I wish I'd known before that in such a short time I'd enjoy my new home.**

-He says like, "I won't be staying long.


	10. Chapter 8

\- We captured a Zeus flag.

I **n a few days I settled into a routine that seemed almost normal, if you discount the fact that I had classes with satires, nymphs and a centaur.**  
 **Every morning I studied Ancient Greek with Annabeth and we talked about gods and goddesses in the present, which was a little strange. I found out that Annabeth was right about my dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't so hard to read. At least, not more difficult than English. After a few mornings I could read some lines of Homer without much headache, stumbling here and there.**

**The rest of the day I alternated outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me archery, but we found out very quickly that I couldn't do it. He didn't even complain when he had to pull a lost arrow out of his tail.**   
**Race? I wasn't good either. The instructors, the nymphs in the woods, made me eat dust. They told me not to worry about it. They had centuries of practice running from passionate gods. But it was still kind of humiliating to be slower than a tree.**   
**And the fights? Forget it. Every time I went on the treadmill, Clarisse would break up with me.**   
**"And there's more coming, you mane," she whispered in my ear.**

-Also after what you did, what did you expect? -Oh. -I said Athena laughing.

**The only thing I was really good at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of hero skill people expected from the guy who beat the Minotaur.**   
**I knew the older campers and the counselors were watching me, trying to figure out who my father was, but it wasn't being easy for them. I wasn't as strong as the boys in Ares, or as good at bow and arrow as the boys in Apollo. I didn't have Hephaestus' skill with metals or - gods forbid - Dionysus' way with the vines. Luke told me that I could be the son of Hermes, a kind of stick for every work, master nothing. But I had the feeling that he was just trying to make me feel better. In fact, he didn't know what to do with me either.**

**Despite all that, I liked the camp. I got used to the morning mist on the beach, the smell of strawberry fields in the afternoon and even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. I dined with cottage 11, pushed part of my meal into the fire and tried to feel some connection with my real father. Nothing was coming. Just that warm feeling I always had, the memory of his smile. I tried not to think too much about my mother, but I kept on killing: if gods and monsters were real, if all those magical things were possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back...**

-He won't forget this-Say Poseidon-It's a suicide mission.

**I started to understand Luke's resentment and how hurt he looked with his father, Hermes. Okay, maybe the gods had important tasks to do. But couldn't they pay a visit once in a while, thunder or something? Dionysius could make Diet Coke come out of nowhere. Why couldn't my dad, whoever he was, make a phone appear?**   
**Thursday afternoon, three days after I got to Half-Blood Camp, I had my first fencing lesson. Everyone from chalet 11 gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.**   
**We started with basic stocking and cutting, using straw-filled dolls with Greek armor. I think I did good. At least I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good.**   
**The problem was I couldn't find a blade that would fit my hands. They were too heavy, too light or too long. Luke did the best he could to help me, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me.**

-Anaklumos-Did Hera-Here-Fell with it.

**We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced that he would be my partner, since it was my first time.**   
**\- Good luck," said one of the campers. - Luke is the best swordsman in the last three hundred years.**

Hermes was proud.

**\- Maybe he'll take it with me - I commented.**   
**The camper laughed, disdainful.**   
**Luke showed me the stockpiles, stops and shield defenses the hard way. With each blow I was a little more beaten and bruised.**   
**\- Keep your guard up, Percy," he said, and then he hit me hard in the ribs using the flat part of the blade. - No, not that hard! - Plaft! - Attack! - Plaft! - Now, back up! - Plaft!**   
**When he asked for a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody ran to the Styrofoam. Luke poured ice water over his own head, which seemed like a great idea. I did the same thing.**   
**Same time I felt better. The force went through my arms again. The sword didn't seem so hard to handle anymore.**   
**\- Okay, everybody in a circle! - ordered Luke. - If it's okay with Percy, I'll give you a little demonstration.**   
**Incredible, I thought. Let's all watch while Percy gets crushed.**

-Well, it could be true- -I said Dionysius- -All. One ruining the other.

**The boys from Hermes gathered around. They were all laughing. I figured they'd been through it and couldn't wait to see Luke use me as a punching bag. He told everyone he was going to show a technique for disarming his opponent: how to turn the enemy's blade with the boring part of his own sword so he had no choice but to drop his weapon.**   
**\- That's difficult," he stressed. - They've already used it against me. Don't laugh at Percy now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master that technique.**   
**He demonstrated the movement to me in slow motion. As predicted, the sword jumped out of my hand.**   
**\- Now, in real time," he said after I recovered my weapon. - We'll make the move until one of us is successful. Ready, Percy?**   
**I nodded, and Luke came at me. Somehow I stopped him from hitting the handle of my sword. My senses sharpened. I saw his attacks coming. I fought back. I stepped forward and tried my own punch. Luke fought back easily, but I noticed a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started pushing me harder.**   
**The sword was weighing on my hand. But balanced. I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Luke knocked me down, so I decided, to hell with it!**   
**I tried the maneuver to disarm.**   
**My blade hit Luke's base and I turned it, putting all my weight down.**   
**Plem!**   
**Luke's sword held against the walls. The tip of my blade was two inches from his bare chest.**   
**The other campers were silent.**

-Interesting-Murmured Zeus.

**I lowered my sword.**   
**\- Uh, I'm sorry.**   
**For a moment, Luke was too perplexed to speak.**   
**\- I'm sorry? - His marked face opened in a smile. - By the gods, Percy, are you sorry? Show me that again!**   
**I didn't mean to. The rapid burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me.**   
**But Luke insisted.**   
**This time, there was no dispute. The moment our swords made contact, Luke hit the cable on mine, which slipped off the floor.**   
**After a long pause, someone from the audience said:**   
**\- Beginner's luck?**   
**Luke wiped the sweat off his forehead. He evaluated me with a whole new interest.**   
**\- Maybe," he said. - But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword...**   
**Friday afternoon. I was sitting with Grover by the lake, resting from an almost fatal climbing wall experience. Grover had climbed to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava barely hit me. My shirt got smoky holes. The hair on my forearms was scorched.**   
**We sat on the pier, gazing at the nails that wove baskets underwater, until I gathered the courage to ask Grover what the conversation with Mr. D. had been like.**   
**His face took on a sickening tone of yellow.**   
**\- Great," he said. - That's nice.**   
**\- So your career's still on the rails?**   
**He gave me a nervous look.**   
**\- Did Chiron tell you that I want a searcher's license?**

-One more lost for Pã-Disse Nemesis. -Yes.

**\- Well... no. - I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but that didn't seem like the right time to ask. - He just told me that you had big plans, you know... and that you needed recognition for completing a task. So you did it?**   
**Grover lowered his eyes to the nails.**   
**\- Mr. D suspended the trial. He said I haven't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our destinies are still connected. If you win a mission, I go along to protect him and we both come back alive, then maybe he'll consider the task done.**   
**My spirits have improved.**   
**\- Well, that's not bad, right?**   
**\- Bééé-é-é! He could have transferred me to the stable cleaning service, too. The chances of you winning a mission... and even if you did, why would he want me to go along?**   
**\- Of course I would want you along!**   
**Grover kept looking melancholically at the water.**   
**\- Weaving baskets... Must be nice to have a useful skill.**   
**I tried to convince him that he had a lot of talents, but that just made him look even more unhappy. We talked about canoeing and fencing for a while, and then we debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, I asked him about the four empty chalets.**   
**\- Number 8, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. - She swore she was a virgin forever. So, of course, no children. The chalet is honorary, you see? If she didn't have one, she'd be angry.**   
**\- Yes, right. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are they the Big Three?**   
**Grover got tense. We were getting close to a delicate matter.**

**\- No. One of them, number 2, is from Hera - he said. - It's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around havingaffairs with mortals. That's her husband's job. When we speak of the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the children of Kronos.**   
**\- Zeus, Poseidon and Hades.**   
**\- Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took their father's world and drew lots to decide who got what.**   
**\- Zeus got the sky - I remembered. - Poseidon, with the sea, Hades, with the world.**   
**Lower.**   
**\- Uh-huh.**   
**\- But Hades doesn't have a cottage here.**   
**\- No. He doesn't have a throne at Olympus either. He, well, he's on his own down in the Underworld. If there was a chalet here... - Grover shook. - Well, that wouldn't be nice.**

-You should look into it, your kids run out of places to stay, train-The Hecate said seriously-To have a chance.

Let's leave it at that.  
 **\- But Zeus and Poseidon... they both had zillions of kids in their myths. Why are their chalets empty?**  
 **Grover swayed from one hull to another, uncomfortable.**  
 **\- About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't breed any more heroes. Their children were too powerful. They were interfering too much in the course of human events, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, forced Hades to take an oath along with them: no cases with mortal women. They all swore an oath on the River Styx.**  
 **A thunder.**  
 **\- That's the most serious oath you can take - I said.**  
 **Grover agreed.**  
 **\- And the brothers kept their word, no children?**  
 **Grover's face nodded.**  
 **\- Seventeen years ago, Zeus returned to bad habits.**

-I have a son? -He called Zeus.  
-And he broke right before me, wanted to kill Percy, Said he would destroy us, what if his son is the hero of the prophecy? -Sayed Poseidon.   
-Two, wonder- -Say Artemis.

**There was a TV star with a tall, armed, '80s-style hairdo... He just couldn't help it. When the baby was born, a little girl named Thalia... Well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus got off easy because he's immortal, but he caused his daughter a terrible fate.**

**-What happened to her? -Oh.**

**\- But that's not fair! It wasn't the little girl's fault.**   
**Grover hesitated.**   
**\- Percy, the sons of the Big Three are more powerful than the other halfbloods. They have a strong aura, an odor that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the child, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades freed the worst monsters in Tartarus to torment Thalia...**

-Hades, YOU KILL MY Daughter--She cried Zeus furious, a thunderbolt thundered near there.-How can you? You'll pay.   
-And now you're trying to do the same to Percy, sending the worst of your minions-Say Poseidon, calm on the outside, but angry on the inside, an aura of energy out of your body-If something happens, you'll beg for mercy.

. **A satire was assigned to be her guardian when she turned twelve, but there was nothing she could do. He tried to escort her here with other half-bloods she had befriended. They almost succeeded. They made it to the top of the hill.**  
 **He pointed to the other side of the valley, to the pine tree where I had faced the Minotaur.**  
 **\- The three Benevolents were after them with a bunch of hell dogs. They were about to be reached when Thalia told her satire to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she tried to contain the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and did not wish to live like a hunted animal. Satire didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind and had to protect the others. So Thalia defended herself in the end, alone, on top of that hill. When she died, Zeus pitied her. He turned her into that pine tree.**

-The pine! Her daughter, she said Artemis the Father.

**Her spirit still helps to protect the valley borders. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill.**   
**I looked at the distant pine. The story made me feel hollow, and also guilty. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. Nearby, my victory over the Minotaur didn't look like much. I asked myself if acting differently could have saved my mother.**   
**\- Grover, did the heroes really go on missions to the Nether World?**   
**\- A few times," he said. - Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini.**   
**\- And did they ever bring anyone back from the dead?**   
**\- No. Never. Orpheus came close... Percy, you're not really thinking about...**   
**\- No - I lied. - I was just wondering. So... a satire is always assigned to guard a demigod?**   
**Grover studied me cautiously. I hadn't convinced him that I'd given up on the idea of the Underworld.**

**\- Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods that have the attributes of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a Big Three child, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they can cause really big problems.**   
**\- And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special.**   
**Grover sounded like I just lured him into a trap.**   
**\- I didn't... Now, listen, don't think like that. If you were... you know... they would never allow you a mission, and I would never have my license. You're probably Hermes' son. Or maybe even one of the lesser gods, like Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance. Don't worry, okay?**   
**I realized he was trying to reassure himself more than me.**

**That night after dinner there was much more excitement than usual. Finally, it was time to capture the flag.**   
**When the plates were taken away, the snail's trumpet sounded and we all stood by our tables.**   
**The campers shouted and applauded as Annabeth and two of her brothers rushed into the pavilion, carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glittering in gray, with an owl painting on top of an olive tree. On the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her friends entered running with another banner, of identical size, but bright red, with the painting of a bloody spear and a boar's head.**   
**I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise:**   
**\- Are those the flags?**   
**\- Yes.**   
**\- Ares and Athena always lead the teams?**   
**\- Not always," he said. - But often.**   
**\- So if another chalet captures one of them, what do you do, repaint the flag?**   
**He smiled ironically.**   
**\- You'll see. First we have to get one.**   
**\- Which side are we on?**   
**He gave me a cunning look, as if he knew something I didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost bad in the light of the torches.**   
**\- We made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we take the flag from Ares. And you will help.**

-And by the title, I know I'm going to lose Ares in revolt.

**The teams have been announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two largest chalets. Apparently, they had exchanged privileges - shower schedules, duty roster, the best positions in the activities - in order to gain support.**   
**Ares had allied himself with everyone else: Dionysius, Demeter, Aphrodite and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's campers were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's had a slight advantage in nature skills and outdoor activities, but they weren't very aggressive. Like Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too concerned. They mostly sat around waiting for all the activities to finish and went to check their reflexes in the lake, combed their hair, and gossiped. Hephaestus' weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and corpulent from working so hard in the metal shop all day.**   
**They could be a problem. That, of course, left the Ares chalet: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest and most perverse boys and girls on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.**   
**Chiron hit the hull on the marble.**   
**\- Heroes! - announced. - You know the rules. The creek is the limit. The whole forest is worth it. All magical items are allowed. The flag must be prominently displayed and must have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but they may not be bound or gagged. No killing or hurting is allowed.**

-Do you need to warn that? -Hephaestus said.  
-Go for me, that game has yielded many, as I might say, health problems -Say Quiron.

**I'll serve as judge and physician on the battlefield. Arm yourselves!**   
**He reached out his hands and the tables suddenly covered themselves with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, metal-covered oxskins.**   
**\- Wow! - I spoke. - Do we really have to wear that?**   
**Luke looked at me like I was crazy.**   
**\- Unless you want to get stuck by your chalet friends. Here... Chiron thought these might fit you. You'll be on border patrol.**   
**My shield was the size of an NBA basketball court, with a big cad in the middle. Weighed about a million pounds. I might as well use it as a snowboard, but I was hoping no one had any real expectations that I would run with it. My helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue mane patch on top. Ares and his allies had red mane.**   
**Annabeth shouted:**   
**\- Blue team, forward!**   
**We applauded and waved our swords, and followed her down the path to the southern woods. The red team shouted at us as they headed north.**   
**I managed to reach Annabeth without tripping over my own equipment.**   
**\- Hey!**   
**She kept marching.**

**\- So, what's the plan? - I asked. - Do you have any magic items I can borrow?**   
**Her hand went out of her pocket, like she was afraid I'd steal something.**   
**\- I'm just saying be careful with Clarisse's spear. You don't want that thing to touch you.**

-It must be a fajuta- -I said Hephaestus- -My children's guns, yes, they must fear.

**Other than that, don't worry. We'll take the flag of Ares. Luke has determined your task?**   
**\- Border patrol, whatever that is.**   
**\- It's easy. Stay by the creek, keep the red ones away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan.**   
**She moved on, leaving me in the dust.**   
**\- Right - I mumbled. - I'm glad you want me on your team.**   
**It was a hot, wet, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies coming and going. Annabeth assigned me to a small stream that rumored over a few rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered among the trees.**   
**There alone, with my big blue plume helmet and my huge shield, I felt like an idiot. The bronze sword, like all the swords I'd tried so far, looked badly balanced. The leather handle weighed on my hand like a bowling ball.**   
**There was no way anyone could really attack me, right? I mean, Olympus had to have responsibility, right?**   
**Away, the snail trumpet sounded. I heard screaming and screaming in the woods, metal crashing, people fighting. An ally of Apollo with a blue plume ran past me like a deer, skipped the stream and disappeared into enemy territory.**   
**That's a good one, I thought. I'll stay out of the fun, as always.**   
**Then I heard a sound that gave me a chill in my spine, a deep canine growl somewhere nearby.**   
**I instinctively raised the shield; I had the feeling that something was peeking at me.**   
**Then the growl stopped. I felt the presence receding.**   
**On the other side of the stream, the undergrowth exploded. Five warriors from Ares came out screaming and screaming from the darkness.**   
**\- Finish Mané! - shouted Clarisse.**   
**Her ugly pig's eyes sparkled in the cracks of her helmet. She softened a spear a meter and a half long, the barbed metal tip casting sparks of red light. Her brothers only had ordinary bronze swords - not that it made me feel better.**   
**They attacked across the stream. There was no help in sight. I could run. Or I could defend myself against half of Ares' chalet.**   
**I managed to dodge the first boy's blow, but those guys weren't stupid like the Minotaur. They surrounded me, and Clarisse invested against me with his spear. My shield deflected the tip, but I felt a painful tingle all over my body. My hair stood up. The arm holding the shield went numb and the air burned.**   
**Electricity. That stupid spear was electric. I retreated.**

-Hephaestus said evil Ares. -Oh!

**Another Ares guy hit me in the chest with the thickest part of the sword and I fell. They could have kicked me until I turned into jelly, but they were too busy laughing.**   
**\- Get his hair cut," said Clarisse. - Grab his hair.**   
**I managed to get on my feet. I raised my sword, but Clarisse threw it violently to the side with her spear, and sparks flew. Now my arms were numb.**   
**\- Ah, wow! - said Clarisse. - I'm scared of this guy. Really scared.**   
**\- The flag's there," I told her. I wanted to look angry, but I don't think I made it.**   
**\- It is," said one of her brothers. - But you see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our chalet people look like idiots.**   
**\- You don't need me for that. - Probably not the smartest thing to say.**   
**Two of them came at me. I retreated towards the stream, tried to lift my shield, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear caught me right in the ribs. If I wasn't wearing armor, I'd have turned barbecued on the spit. The way it was, the electric tip almost made my teeth jump out of my mouth with the shock. One of your chalet mates drew his sword against my arm, making a good butcher's shop.**   
**Seeing my own blood made me dizzy - hot and cold at the same time.**   
**\- Without hurting - I could tell.**   
**\- Oops - said the guy. - I think I lost my right to dessert.**

-I ran someone's leg, and I ran out of dessert. Seriously, Quiron?- said Hecate.

**He pushed me into the stream and I fell down spreading water. Everyone laughed. I figured as soon as they finished having fun I'd die. But then something happened. The water seemed to awaken my senses, as if I had just eaten a double bag of my mother's jujubes.**   
**Clarisse and her cottages entered the stream to catch me, but I stood to welcome them. I knew what to do. I put the boring part of my sword against the first guy's head and ripped off his helmet. I hit him so hard that I could see his eyes trembling as he collapsed in the water.**

**Ugly Number 2 and Ugly Number 3 came at me. I struck one in the face with the shield and used the sword to cut off the mane of the other. They both retreated quickly. Ugly Number 4 didn't seem too eager to attack, but Clarisse kept coming, the tip of the spear crackling with electricity. As soon as she invested, I took the spear's rod between the edge of my shield and my sword, and broke it like a grave.**

-Now he dies- -I said Apollo, what a pity, it was a good spear.

**\- Ah! - she shouted. - You idiot! You corpse-breathed worm!**   
**She probably would have said even worse things, but I hit her between the eyes with the base of the sword and threw her staggering back out of the stream.**   
**Then I heard loud screams, and saw Luke running toward the boundary with the red team's banner raised high. He was flanked by some boys from Hermes, covering his retreat, and some Apollos behind him, fighting the boys from Hephaestus. Ares' boys stood up and Clarisse grumbled a stupefying plague.**   
**\- A trap! - he shouted. - It was a trap.**   
**They staggered out after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the stream as Luke crossed into friendly territory. Our side exploded alive. The red banner flickered and turned silver. The boar and the spear were replaced by a huge caduceus, the symbol of the chalet 11. Everyone from the blue team lifted Luke on their shoulders and started carrying him. Chiron came out at half gallop from the woods and blew the snail's trumpet.**   
**The game was over. We had won.**   
**I was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to me in the stream, said:**   
**\- Not bad, hero.**   
**I looked, but she wasn't there.**   
**\- Where the hell did you learn to fight like that? - she asked. The air shook and Annabeth materialized, holding a Yankee baseball cap as if she had just taken it off her head.**   
**I felt like I was getting angry. I wasn't even upset that she was invisible a second before.**   
**\- You set that up for me," I said. - You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the edges. I had it all set up.**   
**Annabeth shrugged.**   
**\- I told you. Athena always has a plan.**   
**\- A plan to have me reduced to dust.**

-Dramatic model-Aphrodite said.

**\- I came as fast as I could. I was ready to get into the fight, but... - She shrugged. - You didn't need any help.**   
**Then she noticed the injured arm:**   
**\- How'd you get that?**   
**\- Sword cut," I said. - What do you think?**   
**\- No. It was a sword cut. Look at that.**   
**The blood got out. Instead of the huge tear there was a long white scar, and even it was disappearing. As I looked, it turned into a small scar and disappeared.**   
**\- I... I don't understand," she said.**   
**Annabeth reasoned hard. I could almost see the gears turning.**

-She knows, she knows whose son he is-Says Hades.

**She lowered her eyes to my feet, then to Clarisse's broken spear and said:**   
**\- Get out of the water, Percy.**   
**\- What...**   
**\- Just get out.**   
**I came out of the stream and soon I felt extremely tired. My arms started to go numb again. My adrenaline rush left me. I almost fell, but Annabeth held me.**   
**\- Oh, Styx-she cursed. - That's not good. I didn't mean to. I thought it might be Zeus.**

-Let the Styx get rid of it -Say Zeus.

**Before I could ask what she meant, I heard the canine growl again, but much closer. A howl cut through the forest.**

**-Hell dog! But how did he get in? Who let him in? -Say Demeter.**

**The campers' celebration stopped immediately. Chiron shouted something in ancient Greek that I, only later would realize, had understood perfectly:**   
**\- Get ready! My bow!**   
**Annabeth drew her sword.**   
**Above the stones, just above us, was a black dog the size of a rhinoceros, with eyes as red as lava and fangs that looked like daggers.**   
**He was looking directly at me.**

-Same as Thalia-Sussured Persephone.

  
**No one moved except Annabeth, who yelled:**   
**\- Percy, run!**   
**She tried to come between me and the dog, but the bug was too fast. It jumped over her-a huge shadow with teeth-and as soon as it hit me, when I staggered back and felt its sharp claws like razors tearing through my armor, there was a cascade of beating sounds, like forty pieces of paper being torn one after the other. A heap of arrows sprouted around the dog's neck. The monster fell dead at my feet.**   
**By some miracle I was still alive. I didn't want to look under the ruins of my shattered armor. My chest looked warm and wet, and I knew I was seriously wounded. Another second and the monster would have turned me into forty-five kilos of sliced meat.**   
**\- Di immortales! - said Annabeth. - That's one hell of a punishment field dog. They shouldn't... they shouldn't...**

-It looks like you have a Hades puppy- -Says Poseidon- -I want to know which camper is the imbecile.

**\- Someone summoned him," said Chiron. - Someone from inside the camp.**

  
**Luke approached, the forgotten banner in his hands, the moment of glory over.**   
**Clarisse shouted:**   
**\- It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned him!**

-Sure, and he sent the dog to attack him- -Say Athena Force isn't everything, I always say that, Ares, and there's the proof.

**\- Be still, child," he said, "Chiron.**   
**We watched as the infernal dog dissolved in shadow and was absorbed into the earth until it disappeared.**   
**\- You're hurt," Annabeth told me. - Quick, Percy, get in the water.**   
**\- I'm fine.**   
**\- No, you're not," she said. - Chiron, look at this.**   
**I was too tired to argue. I went back into the stream, the whole camp gathered around me.**   
**At the same instant I felt better. I could see the cuts on my chest closing in.**   
**Some of the campers suffocated a scream.**   
**\- Look, I... I don't know why - I talked, trying to apologize. - I'm sorry.**   
**But they weren't watching my wounds heal. They were looking at something above my head.**   
**\- Percy-says Annabeth pointing. - Uh...**   
**When I looked up, the signal was disappearing, but I could still tell the hologram from the green light, flickering and glowing. A three-pointed spear: a trident.**

-Determined!

\- Your father-Whispered Annabeth. - That's really not good.  
- **He's determined-announced Chiron.**  
 **All around me, the campers began to kneel, even the chalet of Ares, though they didn't look too happy about it.**  
 **\- My father? - I asked, completely perplexed.**  
 **\- Poseidon - said Chiron. - Lord of the Earthquakes. Bearer of the Storms. Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the God of the Sea.**

-Why did you claim him? -Here-He didn't because he wanted Percy to have a father, there's something behind it Poseidon, I know.


	11. Chapter 9

\- They're offering me a Zeus mission.

The next morning, Chiron moved me to chalet 3. I didn't have to share it with anyone. I had room for all my things: the horn of the Minotaur, a set of spare clothes and a bag of toiletries. I would sit at my own dinner table, choose all my activities, set the "lights out" whenever I felt like it and didn't listen to anyone else.

-Sounds so lonely-says Poseidon.

And I felt totally unhappy.  
Well, when I started to feel accepted, to feel that I had a home in cottage 11 and could be a normal kid - or as normal as possible when you are a half-breed - I was separated as if I had some rare disease.

No one mentioned the infernal dog, but I had the feeling that everyone was talking about it behind my back. The attack had scared everyone. He sent two messages: the first, that I was a child of the God of the sea; the second, that the monsters would not mediate to kill me. They could even invade a camp that was always considered safe.

-I don't know how he got in.   
-Isn't it obvious, Quiron? There's a traitor among you- Nemesis said.

The other campers kept their distance from me as far as possible. Chalet 11 was too agitated to take fencing lessons with me after what I had done with the Ares people in the woods, so my classes with Luke became private. He demanded more of me than ever, and he was not afraid to hurt me.  
\- You'll need all the training you can get," he promised, as we worked with flaming swords and torches. - Now let's try that viper beheading blow again. Fifty more repetitions.  
Annabeth still taught me Greek in the morning, but she appreciates being distracted. Every time I said something, she closed her face, as if I'd just punched her.

After school, she'd leave grumbling at herself:  
\- Mission... Poseidon?... Holy shit... I need a plan...

Even Clarisse kept her distance, although the poisonous looks made it clear she wanted to kill me for breaking her magic spear. I wanted her to just scream, punch me or something. It was better to get into a fight every day being ignored.  
I knew someone at camp was resenting me because one night I walked into my cottage and found a horrible newspaper thrown in the door, a copy of the New York Daily News, open on the Metropolis page. It took me almost an hour to read it, because the angrier I got the more the words seemed to float on the page.  
BOY AND HIS MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER A STRANGE CAR ACCIDENT

-Every time better- -I said Apollo.

By Ellen Smythe  
Sally Jackson and her son Percy have yet to be found a week after her mysterious disappearance. The family car, a 1978 Camaro, was discovered last Saturday on a road north of Long Island with the roof torn off and the front axle broken. The car had overturned and skidded several hundred meters before it exploded.

-None scratched Gabe-Riu Ares. -Oh!

Mother and son had gone for a weekend in Montauk, but they left in a hurry under mysterious circumstances. Small signs of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the disaster, but there was no other evidence of the missing Jackson.  
Residents of the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident. Mrs. Jackson's husband, Gabe Ugliano, claims that her stepson, Percy Jackson, is a problem child who has been expelled from numerous boarding schools and has shown violent tendencies in the past.  
The police do not say whether the son Percy is a suspect in his mother's disappearance, but they do not rule out the possibility of a crime. Below are recent photographs of Sally Jackson and Percy. The police ask anyone with any information to call toll-free for the following disclaimer.  
The phone number was circled with a black marker.  
I tied up the paper and threw it away, then threw myself in my bunk in the middle of the empty cottage.  
"Lights out," I said to myself, devastated.  
That night, I had my worst nightmare so far.  
I was running down the beach in the middle of a storm. This time, there was a town behind me. Not New York. The panorama was different: the buildings were farther apart, there were palm trees and low hills in the distance.  
A hundred yards ahead, in the break, two men were fighting. They looked like TV fighters, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flying Greek tunics, one garbed in blue, the other in green.

-Father and Poseidon, it's his second dream they're fighting in. -I said Artemis.

They were bulldozing, fighting, kicking and head-butting, and every time they touched, lightning struck, the sky darkened and winds blew.  
I needed to stop them. I didn't know why. 

But the more I ran, the more the wind pushed me back, until I ran without leaving the place, my heels uselessly burying themselves in the sand.  
Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the one in the blue robe shouting to the one in the green robe: Give it back! Give it back! It was as if a kindergarten child was fighting over a toy.  
The waves got bigger, busting on the beach and spraying me with salt.  
I screamed: Stop it! Stop fighting!  
The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere beneath the earth, and a deep, evil voice froze my blood.

-Hades?-It twisted Demeter, but I knew the god's laughter wasn't like that, but it couldn't be..., no, it was Hades.

Come down, little hero, the voice whispered. Come on down!  
The sand opened beneath me in a crack that went straight to the center of the earth.

-My domains aren't that far-The Hades said- -It's the home of...  
-No! -The boy must have been confused, let's not discuss it- -Sayed Zeus.

My feet slipped and the darkness swallowed me up. I woke up, sure I was falling.  
I was still on the bed in cottage 3. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside and the thunder was rumbling through the hills. A storm was forming. That I hadn't dreamed of.

-It didn't rain in the camp-Say Quiron- -It was all upside down.

I heard a hollow sound at the door, the sound of a hoof hitting the threshold.  
\- Come in.  
Grover trotted in, looking worried.  
\- Mr. D wants to see you.  
\- Why would he want to see you?  
\- He wants to kill... I mean, you better let him count it.  
I got dressed up, agitated, and I went, sure as hell into a lot of trouble. For days I've been waiting for a summons to the Big House. Now that I had been declared the son of Poseidon, one of the Three Great Gods who should not have children, I imagined the mere fact of being alive was already a crime. The other gods had probably debated how best to punish me for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to give his verdict.  
Above the Strait of Long Island, the sky looked like a boiling soup of ink.  
A frothy curtain of rain was coming towards us. I asked Grover if we needed an umbrella.  
\- No," he said. - It never rains here unless we want it.  
I pointed out the storm.  
\- Then what the hell is that?  
He looked, worried, at the sky.  
\- It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does that.  
I realized he was right. He'd been there for a week and never seen the weather closed. The few rain clouds I'd noticed were around the valley limits.  
But that storm... that one was immense.  
In the volleyball arena the children of Apollo's chalet were playing a morning match against the satires. Dionysus' twins walked around the strawberry fields making the plants grow. They were all taking care of their normal chores, but they seemed tense. They had their eye on the storm.  
Grover and I walked to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus was sitting at the pinochle table with his Diet Coke, wearing the Hawaiian shirt with tiger stripes, just like in my first day. Chiron was on the other side of the table in his fake wheelchair. They played against invisible opponents - two hands of cards floated in the air.- Well, well - said Mr. D without raising his eyes. - Our little celebrity.  
I waited.  
\- Come closer," said Mr. D., "and don't expect me to bow down before you, mortal, just because old Barbas de Craca is your father.

-I'll call you old dipsomaniac-Says Poseidon- -You can't drink now, but you used to live drunk in the corners. Idiot.

A net of lightning shone through the clouds. A thunder made the windows of the house shake.  
\- Blablabla," said Dionysius.  
Chiron faked interest in his pinochle letters. Grover shrank by the rail, his hooves beating back and forth.  
\- If things were my way," said Dionysus, "I'd make his molecules burst into flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be free of a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to think that would be against my mission in this cursed camp: to keep you kids safe from evil.  
\- Spontaneous combustion is a form of evil, Mr. D - Chiron intervened.  
\- Nonsense," said Dionysus. - The boy wouldn't feel a thing. However, I agreed to contain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, and sending you back to your father.  
\- Mr. D... - you warned Chiron.  
\- Why, that's all right - Dionysius gave in. - There's one more option. But it's outrageous folly. - Dionysius stood up, and the invisible players' cards fell on the table. - I'm going to Olympus for an emergency meeting. If the boy's still here when I get back, I'm gonna turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Got it? And Perseus Jackson, if you're really smart, you'll see that this is a much wiser choice than Chiron imagines.

-Turn a dolphin, having a mission, is that wiser? -Yeah. You foresaw revising your concepts-Saying Apollo the Unbeliever.

Dionysius took a letter, twisted it and it turned into a plastic rectangle. Credit card? No. A security pass. He snapped his fingers. The air seemed to bend and bend around him. He turned into a hologram, then a wind and then disappeared, leaving behind only the smell of freshly pressed grapes.  
Chiron smiled at me, but looked tired and tense.  
\- Sit down, Percy, please. Grover too.  
We obey.  
Chiron put his cards on the table. The winning hand he'd never used.  
\- Tell me, Percy," he said. - How did you feel about the infernal dog?  
Just hearing the name, I shivered.  
Chiron probably wanted me to say it: Well, that was nothing. I usually eat hell dogs for breakfast. But I didn't feel like lying.  
\- He terrified me - I did. - If you hadn't hit him, I'd be dead.  
\- You're gonna face worse things, Percy. Much worse, before you're through.  
\- Finish... what?  
\- Your mission, of course. You'll take it?  
I took a look at Grover, who was crossing his fingers.  
\- Uh, sir, you still haven't told me what it is.  
Chiron made a face.  
\- Well, that's the hard part, the details.  
A thunder broke through the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together.  
\- Poseidon and Zeus," I said. - They're fighting for something valuable... something that was stolen, aren't they?  
Chiron and Grover exchanged glances.  
\- How do you know that?  
I felt the warm face. I wish I hadn't opened my mouth.  
\- Since Christmas, the weather's been weird, like the sea and the sky were fighting. Then I spoke to Annabeth, and she had heard something about a robbery. And... I've been dreaming things too.  
\- I knew it," Grover said.  
\- Quiet, satire-ordered Chiron.  
\- But that's his mission! - Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. - It has to be!  
\- Only the Oracle can determine - Chiron straightened his beard. - However, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst fight in centuries. They're fighting over something valuable that's been stolen. To be precise: lightning.  
I laugh nervously.  
\- A what?  
\- Don't laugh at it - he warned Chiron. - I'm not talking about a zigzag covered in foil like you see in school plays. I'm talking about a high-grade bronze cylinder, sixty centimeters long, topped on both sides with explosives of decibel level.  
\- Ah.  
\- Zeus's master ray," said Chiron, now getting emotional. - The symbol of his power, according to which all other rays are shaped. The first weapon made by the Cyclops for the war against the Titans, which cut the summit of Mount Etna and threw Kronos off its throne; the master ray, which accumulates enough power to make the mortals' hydrogen bombs look like fireworks.  
\- And he disappeared?  
\- They stole," said Chiron.  
\- Who did they steal?

-Who stole -He ran Zeus, looking one by one -I'll find out.  
\- Who stole - corrected Chiron. Once a teacher, always a teacher. - You did.

-Percy? He didn't even know who Hecate was.

My chin fell off.  
\- At least - Chiron raised one hand - that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last assembly of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: "Mother Reia always liked you better", "Air disasters are more spectacular than seafarers" etc. Later, Zeus realized that his master ray had disappeared, taken from the throne room right under his nose. At the same instant, he blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot directly usurp the power symbol of another god - this is forbidden by the oldest of divine laws. But Zeus believes his father convinced a human hero to take him.  
\- But I don't...  
\- Patience, listen, child - said Chiron. - Zeus has good reason to suspect. The forges of the Cyclops lie beneath the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's rays. Zeus believes that Poseidon took the master ray and is now ordering the Cyclops to secretly build an arsenal of illegal copies, which could be used to overthrow Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon had used to steal the beam. Now Poseidon openly declared that you are his son. You were in New York on winter break. You could have easily infiltrated Olympus. Zeus believes he found your thief.

-Percy wasn't at Olympus, actually who they were, Annabeth, Clarisse, Luke, and some campers.-One of them stole the lightning, the question:Who? -I said Athena Sei that my daughter wasn't. -Oh.

\- But I've never been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!

-I insolent Moloch. -Say Zeus.

Chiron and Grover looked nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be separating around us, as Grover had promised. They were coming up into our valley, closing us in like a coffin lid.  
\- Uh, Percy...? - said Grover. - We don't use that word that starts with m to describe the Lord in Heaven.  
\- Paranoid, who knows - suggested Chiron. - But on the other hand, Poseidon has tried to bring down Zeus before. I believe that was question 38 of his final exam... - He looked at me as if he really expected me to remember question 38.  
How could anyone accuse me of stealing a god's gun? I couldn't even steal a piece of pizza from Gabe's poker table without getting caught. Chiron was waiting for an answer.  
\- Something to do with a gold chain? - I guessed. - Poseidon, and Hera, and some other gods... they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better sovereign, right?

-You're not yet, a hundred percent better- -Zombed Hades-Mas is a start.

\- That's right," said Chiron. - And Zeus hasn't trusted Poseidon since. Poseidon, of course, denies having stolen the master ray. He was offended by the accusation. The two of them have been arguing all this time for months, with threats of war. And now you've turned up - the famous drop of water.  
\- But I'm just a child!  
\- Percy - Grover intervened - if you were Zeus, and already thought your brother was planning to overthrow you, and then suddenly admitted that he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II and that he was the father of a new mortal hero who could be used as a weapon against you... Wouldn't that leave you with the flea behind your ear?  
\- But I didn't do anything. Poseidon - my father - he really didn't have the master ray stolen, did he?  
Chiron sighed.  
\- Most intelligent observers would agree that theft is not Poseidon's style. But the God of the Sea is too proud to try to convince Zeus of that. Zeus demanded that Poseidon return the lightning until the summer solstice. That will be June 21, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by that same date. I had hoped that diplomacy would prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see reason. But their arrival inflamed the genius of Zeus. Now neither god wants to retreat. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master ray is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a total war could be like, Percy?  
\- Bad? - I guessed.  
\- Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. The Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battlefield so big it'll make the Trojan War look like a water balloon fight.  
\- Bad - repeat.  
\- And you, Percy Jackson, will be the first to feel the wrath of Zeus.

-I said, I shouldn't have complained about the boy-Did Hera.

It started raining. The volleyball players interrupted the game and stared at the sky.  
I had brought the storm to Half-Blood Hill, Zeus was punishing the whole camp for me. I was furious.  
\- So I have to find that stupid ray," he said. - And return it to Zeus.  
\- What better peace offering," said Chiron, "than to make the son of Poseidon return what is Zeus'?  
\- If he's not with Poseidon, where is that thing?  
\- I think I know. - Chiron's expression was grim. - Part of the prophecy I received years ago... well, some phrases make sense to me now. But before I can say more, you must officially accept the mission. You must seek the advice of the Oracle.  
\- Why can't you tell me in advance where the lightning is?  
\- Because if I do, you'll be too scared to accept the challenge.  
I swallowed it dry.  
\- Good reason.  
\- So you agree?  
I looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly.  
Easy for him. I was the one Zeus wanted to kill.  
\- Okay," I said. - It's better than being turned into a dolphin.  
\- Then it's time for you to consult the Oracle," said Chiron. - Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come down again, assuming you're still lucid, we'll talk more.  
Four flights up, the ladder ended under a green hatch. I pulled the cord. The door opened and a wooden ladder fell noisily into place. The warm air from above smelled of mold, rotten wood and something else... a smell that reminded me of biology class. Reptiles. The smell of snakes.  
I held my breath and went up.

The attic was stuffed with Greek heroes' junk: armour supports covered with spider webs; once shiny shields full of stickers saying Ithaca, ISLAND OF CIRCE AND LAND OF AMAZONES. On a long table were piled glass jars full of canned things - hairy claws cut off, huge yellow eyes and several other monster parts. A dusty trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake head, but with horns and a full arch of shark teeth. A plaque said: HEAD N. 1 DA HIDRA, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969.  
By the window, sitting on a three-legged wooden stool, was the most terrifying youth of all: a mummy. Not the kind wrapped in cloths, but a female human body, resected until just the bark. She wore a summer dress printed in batik, with a portion of beaded necklaces and a bandana over long black hair.

-It looks like the oracle of now--Say Apollo frightened-but it can't be, someone else always appears, and becomes the new oracle.

. The skin of the face was thin and looked like leather over the skull, and the eyes were glassy white cracks, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; it must have been dead long, long ago.  
Looking at her gave me the creeps on my back. And that was before she straightened up on the stool and opened her mouth. A green mist gushed out of the mummy's throat, serpenting the ground in thick rings, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I stumbled on myself trying to reach the trapdoor, but it closed with a knock. Inside my head, I heard a voice, sliding through one ear and coiled itself through my brain:  
I am the spirit of Delphi, spokesman for the prophecies of Febo Apollo, murderer of the mighty Python. Come closer, you who seek, and ask.

-What happened? -I demanded Apollo -What happened to my Oracle Chiron?  
-I have no idea, sir. -I'm sorry, I said Quiron was worried.

I meant: No thanks, wrong door, I was just looking for the bathroom. But I forced myself to take a deep breath.  
The mummy wasn't alive. It was some kind of horrifying receptacle for something else, the power that spiraled around me in the green mist. But its presence didn't seem evil, like that of the demon math teacher, Mrs. Dodds or the Minotaur. It was more like the Three Parks I had seen knitting the wool yarn next to the highway's fruit stand: ancient, powerful, and undoubtedly non-human. And it didn't seem especially interested in killing me either.  
I gathered the courage to ask:  
\- What is my fate?  
The fog swirled, thicker, gathering right in front of me and around the table with the pots that contained parts of canned monsters. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. Their faces became sharper. It was Smelly Gabe and his coupons.  
My fists contracted, though I knew that poker game couldn't be real. It was an illusion, made of mist.  
Gabe turned to me and spoke in the husky voice of the Oracle: You will go west, and face the god who has become disloyal.

-You'll catch the one who stole from me, I like Zeus.

The termite on the right raised his eyes and said in the same voice, "You will find what was stolen, and you will see it returned safely.

-My hell, I'm loving this prophecy! -Oh!  
Wait to see the others. -Thought Hecate, goddess of fate.

The one on the left put three chips on the table, then said: You will be betrayed by the one who calls you friend.

-Grover?-Sayed Aphrodite.

Finally Eddie, the janitor of our building, preferred the worst sentence of all: And in the end, you will fail to save what matters most.

-But he's gonna save my damn thing, that's what matters most. -Say Zeus without understanding.   
-He wants to save his mother, bring her back -Say Poseidon.

The figures have begun to dissolve. At first I was too stunned to say anything, but when the mist receded, curling up like a huge green snake and sliding back into the mummy's mouth, I screamed:  
\- Wait! What do you mean? What friend? What can't I save?  
The tail of the mist serpent disappeared into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall. The mouth closed tightly, like it hadn't been opened in a hundred years. The attic was silent again, abandoned, nothing but a room full of souvenirs.  
I had the feeling that I could stand there until I gathered cobwebs too, and I wouldn't know anything else.  
My audience with the Oracle was closed.  
\- So? - Chiron asked me.  
I collapsed into a chair at the pinochle table.  
\- She said I should get back what was stolen.  
Grover leaned forward, chewing up the remains of a Diet Coke can.  
\- That's great!  
\- What exactly did the Oracle say? - pressed Chiron. - That's important.  
My ears were still ringing with the reptilian voice.

\- She... she said I would go west and face a god who has become disloyal. I'd recover what was stolen and return it safely.  
\- I knew it," said Grover.  
Chiron didn't seem satisfied.  
\- Anything else?  
I didn't want to tell him.  
What friend would betray me? I didn't have that many.  
And the last sentence - I would fail to save what matters most. What kind of oracle would send me on a mission and tell me, Ah, by the way, you're going to get it wrong.  
How could I confess that?  
\- No - I did. - That's all.  
He studied my face.  
\- Very good, Percy. But know this: the words of the Oracle often have a double meaning. Don't rely too much on them. The truth is not always clear until events happen.  
I had the feeling he knew I was hiding something bad, and he was trying to make me feel better.  
\- Right - I did, eager to change the subject. - So, where am I going? Who is this god in the west?  
\- Ah, think, Percy," said Chiron. - If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who's to gain from it?  
\- Someone else who wants to take power? - I guessed.  
\- Yes, exactly. Someone who holds a grudge, someone who's unhappy with their share since the world was divided was behind, whose reign will become powerful with the death of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him to take an oath to have no more children, an oath they both broke.  
I thought of my dreams, the evil voice that spoke from the bottom of the earth.  
\- Hades.

-I'm not a thief-Hades- -It wasn't me!

Chiron nodded.  
\- The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility.  
Grover drooled a piece of aluminum out of the corner of his mouth.  
\- Whoa, wait a minute. What?  
\- One of the Furies came after Percy - remembered Chiron. - She watched the boy until she was sure of his identity, and then tried to kill him. The Furies obey one lord: Hades.  
\- Yes, but... but Hades hates all heroes - protested Grover. - Especially if he found out that Percy is the son of Poseidon...  
\- A hell of a dog got into the woods - continued Chiron. - They can only be summoned from the Punishment Camps, and he had to be summoned by someone from within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect that Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-breed before he can take over the mission.  
\- Good - I mumbled. - They're two of the most important gods trying to kill me.  
\- But a mission to... - Grover swallowed dry. - I mean, couldn't the master ray be somewhere like Maine? Maine is very pleasant this time of year.  
\- Hades sent the protégé to steal the master ray," Chiron insisted. - He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't intend to fully understand the motives of the Lord of the Dead or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain: Percy needs to go to the Nether World; find the master ray and reveal the truth.  
A strange fire burned in my stomach. The weirdest thing was that it wasn't about fear. It was expectation. The desire for revenge. Hades had tried to kill me three times so far with the Fury, the Minotaur and the infernal dog. It was his fault my mother had disappeared in a flash. Now he was trying to frame me and my father for a robbery we had not committed.  
I was ready to face him.

-May I come, I'm ready. -I'm ready.

Besides, if my mother was in the Underworld...  
Whoa, boy!, said the little part of my brain that was still lucid. You're a boy. Hades is a god.  
Grover was shaking. He'd started eating pinochle cards like they were little fries.  
The poor guy needed to complete a mission with me to get his seeker's license, whatever that was, but how could I ask him to participate in that, especially knowing that the Oracle had said I was going to fail? It was suicide.  
\- Look, if we know it's Hades," said Chiron, "Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Nether World and roll some heads.  
\- Suspecting and knowing aren't the same," said Chiron. - Besides, even if they suspect Hades... I imagine Poseidon suspects... the other gods couldn't recover the lightning by themselves. Gods cannot enter each other's territories unless they are invited. That's another very old rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're brave and strong enough to do so. No god can be held responsible for the acts of a hero. Why do you think gods always act through human beings?  
\- You're saying I'm being used.

-I knew it, that's why you claimed it. -Oh. For that behind the master ray Said Hera- A little spinning of the gods.

\- I'm saying it's no accident that Poseidon took over now. It's a very risky move, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you.  
My father needs me.  
Emotions spun inside me like pieces of glass in a kaleidoscope. I didn't know if I felt resentment, gratitude, joy or anger. Poseidon had ignored me for 12 years. Now all of a sudden, he needed me.  
I looked at Chiron.  
\- You knew all along that I was Poseidon's son, didn't you?  
\- I had my suspicions. As I said... I also spoke to the Oracle.  
I had a feeling there was a lot he wasn't telling me about his prophecy, but I realized I couldn't worry about it at that time. After all, I was also withholding information.  
\- So let me get this straight," I said. - I need to go to the Nether World and confront the Lord of the Dead.  
\- Check it out," said Chiron.  
\- To find the most powerful weapon in the universe.  
\- Check it out.  
\- And take it back to Olympus before the summer solstice in ten days.  
\- That's right.  
I looked at Grover, who swallowed the ace of hearts.  
\- Did I mention that Maine is very pleasant this time of year? - he asked in a tired way.  
\- You don't have to go," I told him. - I can't demand it of you.  
\- Ah... - He swung from one hoof to the other. - No... it's just that the satires, and the places below ground... well...  
He took a deep breath, then stood up, shaking the pieces of cards and aluminum off his shirt.  
\- You saved my life, Percy. If... if you're serious about wanting me to go along, I'm not gonna let you down.  
I was so relieved, I felt like crying, although I didn't think it was very heroic.  
Grover was the only friend I'd ever had for more than a few months. I didn't really know what a satire could do against the forces of the dead, but I felt better knowing that he would be with me.  
\- Together to the end, goat man. - I turned to Chiron. - So, where are we going? The Oracle only said to go west.  
\- The entrance to the Underworld is always to the west. Change places from age to age, like Olympus. Actually, of course, it's in the United States.  
\- Where is it?  
Chiron seemed surprised.  
\- I thought it was obvious. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles.  
\- Ah - I did. - Of course you did. So just get on a plane...  
\- No! - shouted Grover. - Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?  
I shook my head, not funny. My mother had never taken me anywhere by plane. She always said we couldn't afford it. Besides, her parents had died in a plane crash.  
\- Percy, think," said Chiron. - You're the son of the God of the Sea. Your father's most rancorous rival is Zeus, Lord in Heaven. Your mother knew very well that she couldn't trust you with a plane.  
Above us, lightning struck. The thunder rumbled.  
\- Right," I said, determined not to look at the storm. - Then I'll travel by land.  
\- Right," said Chiron. - Two partners will accompany you. Grover is one. The other has already volunteered, if you accept her help.  
\- Pull - I spoke, pretending to be surprised. - Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a mission like this?

-Annie's not stupid. It's her destiny to wait for someone special to come, though I doubt Percy is "special,"" said Athena.

The air shook behind Chiron.  
Annabeth became visible, sticking her Yankee cap in her back pocket.  
\- I'd been waiting a long time for a mission, Kelphead.

-He's got no brains. -He's got no algae head.

\- she said. - Athena is no Poseidon fan, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to stop you from screwing it up.  
\- If you say so. Do you have a plan, Sabidinha?  
Her cheeks blushed.  
\- You want my help or not?  
The truth is, I did. I needed all the help I could find.  
\- A threesome, I said. - That'll work.  
\- Excellent," said Chiron. - This afternoon we can take you to the bus terminal in Manhattan at the most. After that, you'll be on your own.  
A flash of lightning. The rain has fallen over the meadows that should never see a violent storm.  
\- There's no time to lose," said Chiron. - I think you should all pack your bags.


	12. Chapter 10

\- I'll destroy a bus-Say Ares-Are we speaking my language now.

I didn't need much time to pack. I decided to leave the Minotaur's horn in my chalet, so all that was left was an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to put in a backpack that Grover had found for me.  
The camp store lent me a hundred dollars in deadly money and twenty drachmas of gold. These coins were big as a giant biscuit, had images of several Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire States Building on the other. The drachmas of the ancient mortals were silver, Chiron told us, but the Olympians never used anything less than pure gold. Chiron said coins might come in handy for nonmortal transactions - whatever that meant. He gave Annabeth and me a canteen of nectar and an airtight bag full of ambrosia squares to use only in emergencies if we were seriously injured. That was the food of the gods, Chiron recalled. It would heal us from any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. In excess, it could leave a half-breed with a lot, a lot of fever. An overdose would set us on fire, literally.

-Overdose of food-Reflected Hermes-Estranho.

Annabeth was carrying her magic Yankee cap, which was, she told me, a gift from her mother for her twelfth birthday.

-I was very thoughtful, with my children -Say Athena.

. She took a book about the famous classical architecture, written in ancient Greek, to read when she was bored, and carried a long bronze knife hidden in her shirt sleeve. I was sure the knife would cause us trouble the first time we went through a metal detector.  
Grover had his fake feet and pants to pass for a human being. He wore a green rastaphary-style cap, because when it rained, his curly hair flattened out, letting the tip of his horns appear. His shrieking, orange backpack was full of metal scrap and apples for the snack. In his pocket was a set of bamboo flutes that his father-goat had carved for him, although he only knew two tunes: Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 and Hilary Duff's So Yesterday, and both sounded very bad on bamboo flutes.

We waved goodbye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean and the Big House, then climbed the Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that once was Thalia, daughter of Zeus.  
Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him was the surfer I'd seen when I was recovering in my sick room.

-Argos!

According to Grover, the guy was head of camp security. Supposedly, he had eyes all over his body so he'd never be caught by surprise. That day, however, he was wearing a driver's uniform, so I could only see the extra eyes on his hands, face and neck.  
\- This is Argos - said Chiron. - It will take you by car to the city and, uh, well, keep an eye on everything.  
I heard steps behind us.  
Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.  
\- Hey! He gasped. - Glad I caught up with you guys.  
Annabeth blushed, as always when Luke was around.  
\- I just wanted to wish him good luck," he said to me. - And I thought, uh, maybe you could use this.  
He handed me the sneakers, which seemed pretty common. They even had the usual smell.  
Luke said:  
\- Maya!

-They're mine.  
-He must have given them to Hermes-Disse Apollo.

White bird's wings sprouted from his heels, leaving me so surprised I dropped them. The sneakers flapped their wings on the ground until they bent and disappeared.  
\- Impressive! - said Grover.  
Luke smiled.  
\- They helped a lot when I was on my mission. Present from Daddy. Of course, I don't use them much these days... - Your expression has become sad.  
I didn't know what to say. It was pretty cool that Luke went to say goodbye. I was afraid he was hurting me for getting so much attention the last few days. But there he was, with a magical gift... It made me blush almost as much as Annabeth.  
\- Hey, man, thanks.  
\- Listen, Percy... - Luke looked like he wasn't funny. - Everyone expects a lot from you. So just... kill some monsters for me, okay?  
We'll swap a handshake. Luke stroked Grover's head between his horns and then gave Annabeth a big hug, which looked like she was going to faint.  
After Luke left, I told her:  
\- You're breathing fast.  
\- No, I'm not.  
\- You let him capture the flag in your place, didn't you?  
\- Oh... why do I even want to go anywhere with you, Percy?

-You didn't answer the question-Alfinetou Hestia.

She came down beating her feet to the other side of the hill, where a white SUV was waiting at the side of the road. Argos followed her, swinging the car keys.  
I grabbed my flying sneakers and had a sudden bad feeling. I looked at Chiron.  
\- I won't be able to wear that, will I?  
He shook his head. 

\- Luke's intention was good, Percy. But going up in the air... wouldn't be very smart of you.  
I nodded, disappointed, but then I had an idea.  
\- Hey, Grover. You want some magic equipment?  
Your eyes lit up.  
\- Me?  
Quickly, we tied our sneakers over your fake feet, and the world's first flying goat was ready to launch.  
\- Maya! - he yelled.  
He rose from the ground very well, but then he fell to his side and his backpack crawled on the grass. The winged sneakers hovered up and down like tiny wild horses.  
\- Practical - chiron shouted to him. - You just need practice.  
\- Aaaaaa! - Grover flew off a low hill, like a tiny lawn mower, towards the van.  
Before I could follow him, Chiron held my arm.  
\- I should have trained him better, Percy," he said. - If only I'd had more time. Hercules, Jason... everyone got more training.

-I should have told him, I waited for Mom to talk, now he's out on a mission, two weeks' training.  
-You did your best Quiron-Disse Poseidon

\- It's okay. I just wanted to...  
I interrupted myself because I was about to sound like a spoiled child. I wish my dad had given me something cool magic to help me on my mission, something as good as Luke's flying shoes or Annabeth's invisible cap.  
\- What am I thinking? - exclaimed Chiron. - I can't let you go without that.  
He pulled a pen out of his coat pocket and handed it to me. It was a common disposable ballpoint pen, black ink, removable lid. It cost probably 30 cents.  
\- Pull," I said. - I said, "Pull." Thank you.  
\- Percy, this was a gift from your father. I kept it for years, not knowing it was you I was expecting. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the chosen one.  
I remembered the tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art when I reduced Mrs. Dodds to dust. Chiron had thrown me a pen that turned into a sword. Was that...?  
I took the lid off, and the pen got longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second I was holding a shiny bronze sword with a double threaded blade, a leather wrapped handle and a flat guard riveted with gold pins. It was the first weapon that really looked balanced in my hand.  
\- The sword has a long and tragic history, which we don't need to talk about

-Not even said Artemis, and whispered something like Hercules, and trust men.

\- told me Chiron. - His name is Anaklusmos.  
\- Counter-current - I translated, surprised the ancient Greek came so easily to me.  
\- But only use it for emergencies," said Chiron, "and only against monsters. No hero should hurt mortals, only if absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword would not hurt them under any circumstances.  
I looked at the blade cruelly sharp.  
\- What do you mean, it wouldn't hurt mortals? How can it not hurt?  
\- The sword is of celestial bronze. Forged by the Cyclops, seasoned in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the river Lete. It's deadly to monsters, to any creature in the Underworld, as long as they don't kill you first. But the blade will pass through mortals as an illusion. They're not important enough to be killed by the blade. And I must warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by both celestial and normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable.  
\- Good to know.  
\- Now put the lid back on the pen.  
I put the cap of the pen on the tip of the sword and instantly it shrank and turned back into a ballpoint pen. I stuck it in my pocket a little nervous because at school I had a reputation for losing pens.  
\- There are no risks," said Chiron.  
\- Of what?  
\- Of losing the pen," he said. - It's enchanted. It'll always reappear in your pocket. Try it.  
I was suspicious, but I threw the pen as far as I could down the hill and saw it disappear into the grass.  
\- It may take a few moments," said Chiron. - Now check your pocket.  
No doubt the pen was there.  
\- Okay, that's very nice," I admitted. - But what if a mortal sees me pulling a sword?

-He still doesn't know the fog-did Hestia.

Chiron smiled.  
\- The Mist is something powerful, Percy.  
\- The Mist?  
\- Yes. Read the Iliad. It's full of references to it. Whenever divine or monstrous elements mingle with the mortal world, they generate the Mist, which blurs the vision of human beings. You will see things exactly as they are, being a halfblood, but human beings will interpret everything very differently. It's really amazing how far human beings can go to adapt situations to their conception of reality.  
I put counter-current back in my pocket. For the first time, I felt the mission as something real. I was actually leaving Half-Blood Hill. I was going west without any adult supervision, without a plan B, not even a cell phone. 

(Chiron said phones could be traced by monsters; if he used one, it would be worse than launching a flare.) I had no weapon more powerful than a sword to fight monsters and reach the Land of the Dead.  
\- Chiron... - I have spoken. - When you say the gods are immortal... I mean, there was a time before them, right?  
\- One was before them, actually. The Time of the Titans was the Fourth Age, sometimes called the Golden Age, which is undoubtedly an inappropriate name. This time, the time of Western civilization and the reign of Zeus, is the Fifth Age.  
\- So what was it like... before the gods?

-Ruim as Percy said Hades. -Yes.

Chiron contracted his lips.  
\- Even I'm not old enough to remember that, child, but I know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals. Chronos, the Lord of the Titans, called his reign the Golden Age because men lived in innocence and free from all knowledge. But that was mere propaganda. King Titan cared nothing for his kind except to serve as an aperitif, or as a source of entertainment. It was only at the beginning of the reign of Lord Zeus, when Prometheus, the good Titan, brought fire to humanity, that his species began to evolve, and even then Prometheus was stigmatized as a radical thinker. Zeus punished him severely, as you may remember. Of course, at last the gods took an interest in human beings, and Western civilization was born.

-Prometheus should have warned me -Saying Zeus stood up for himself.

\- But now the gods can't die, right? I mean, as long as Western civilization is alive, they'll be alive. So... even if I fail, nothing can happen so bad as to ruin everything, right?  
Chiron gave me a melancholy smile.  
\- No one knows how long the age of the West will last, Percy. The gods are immortal, yes. But the Titans were immortal, too. They still exist, locked up in their various prisons, forced to endure endless pain and punishment, with reduced power, but still very much alive. May the Parches not allow the gods to suffer such a curse, or may we return to the darkness and chaos of the past. All we can do, child, is follow our fate.  
\- Our destiny... assuming we know what it is.  
\- Relax, Chiron told me. - Keep your ideas in place. And remember, you may be about to avoid the greatest war in human history.

-Don't exaggerate Quiron, after all what the theft of the lightning might do? -Say Aphrodite.

\- Relax," I said. - I'm very relaxed.  
When I got to the foot of the hill, I looked back. Under the pine tree that was once Thalia, Zeus's daughter, Chiron was in the full form of a man-horse, holding his bow high in salutation. A typical summer camp farewell to her typical centaur.  
Argos led us out of the countryside towards the west of Long Island. It was weird being on a highway again, with Annabeth and Grover sitting next to me like normal rides. After two weeks on Half-Blood Hill, the real world looked like a fantasy. I was surprised to see every McDonald's, every child in the backseat of his parents' car, every billboard, and every mall.  
\- So far, so good," Annabeth said. - Fifteen miles and not a single monster.  
She gave me an angry look.  
\- Talking like that brings bad luck, Kelphead.  
\- Help me remember: Why do you hate me so much?  
\- I don't hate you.  
\- I could be wrong.  
She folded her invisibility cap.  
\- Look... it's just that we shouldn't get along, okay? Our parents are rivals.

-That's right, at least she's sensible, -I said Athena.

\- Why is that?  
She sighed.  
\- How many reasons do you want? Once my mother caught Poseidon with his girlfriend at Athena's temple, which is super disrespectful. Again, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god of the city of Athens. His father created a stupid fountain of salt water as a gift.

-Stupid?  
-What do you want salt water for? You can't cook, you can't live, you have no use for it. I agree with Athena said Dionysius.

My mother raised the olive tree. People saw her gift was better, so they named the town after her.  
\- They must really like olives.  
\- Oh, never mind.  
\- Now, if she had invented pizza... that I could understand.  
\- I said, never mind.  
In the front seat, Argos smiled. He said nothing, but a blue eye on the back of his neck winked at me.  
Traffic was slow in Queens. By the time we got to Manhattan it was sunset and it was starting to rain. Argos dropped us at Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from my mom and Gabe's apartment. In a mailbox, stuck with duct tape, there was a leaflet soaked with my portrait: YOU HAVE VIEWED THIS CHILD?  
I ripped it off before Annabeth and Grover could see it.

-that's going to cause trouble, it might delay the mission-Say Ares-E if someone recognizes him?

Argos unloaded our bags, made sure we got the bus tickets and then left, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled the car out of the parking lot.  
I thought about how close I was to my old apartment. On a normal day, my mother would be arriving from the dock about that time. Smelly Gabe was probably there, playing poker, not even missing her.  
Grover put his backpack on his shoulders. He looked down the street in the direction I was looking.  
\- You want to know why she married him, Percy?

-By the smell of it- -Sa Hermes-Ja said we discussed it.

I looked at him.  
\- Are you reading my mind or something?  
\- Just your emotions. - He shrugged his shoulders. - I guess I forgot to tell you satires can do that. You were thinking about your mother and your stepfather, right?  
I nodded, wondering what else Grover would have forgotten to tell.  
\- Your mother married gabe for you - Grover told me. - You call him "Smelly," but you have no idea. The guy has this aura... Wow, I can smell him from here. I can smell him on you, and it's been a week since you've been near him.  
\- Thanks - I did. - Where's the nearest shower?  
\- You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather has a smell so repulsively human that it can mask the presence of any demigod. As soon as I inhaled the air inside your Camaro, I knew: Gabe had been covering up his scent for years. If you hadn't lived with him every summer, he probably would have been found by monsters long ago. Your mother stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must have loved you a lot to put up with that guy... if it makes you feel any better.

-I don't think he does, out of love or not, because of him his mother had to tie herself to someone who couldn't stand it-Says Hestia.

I didn't, but I forced myself not to. I'll see her again, I thought. She's not gone.  
I wondered if Grover could still read my emotions, confused as they were. I was grateful that he and Annabeth were with me, but I felt guilty because I hadn't been honest with them. I hadn't told them the real reason I said yes to that crazy mission.  
The truth was that I didn't care about getting the lightning back from Zeus, saving the world, or even helping my father out of trouble. The more I thought about it, the more I resented Poseidon for never visiting me, never helping my mother, never wanting to send a damn child support check. He only recognized me because he had a job to do.

Don't hate me. He asked for Poseidon quietly.

I only cared about my mother. Hades had taken her unfairly, and Hades would return her.

-He's starting to hate you, Hades-Did Zeus-E don't think I forgot, that you killed Thalia.

You'll be betrayed by the one you call your friend, the Oracle whispered in my mind. And in the end, you will fail to save what matters most.  
Shut up, I said.  
The rain keeps falling.  
We got impatient waiting for the bus and decided to play footbag with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was incredible. She could throw the apple with her knee, elbow, shoulder, or whatever. I wasn't bad myself. The game was over when I threw the apple at Grover and she got too close to his mouth. In a goat megabyte, our footbag was gone - core, stalk and all.  
Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but Annabeth and I were too busy laughing.  
Finally the bus arrived. As we stood in line to board, Grover began to look around, sniffing the air the way he sniffed his favorite snack in the school cafeteria-filled.  
\- What was that? - I asked.  
\- I don't know," he said, tense. - Maybe it's nothing.

-I hope it's not the work of your Hades-Says Poseidon.

But I could tell it was something. I started looking over my shoulder too.  
I was relieved when we boarded after all and found a place together in the back of the bus. We kept our backpacks. Annabeth nervously tapped her Yankee cap on her thigh.  
When the last passengers boarded, Annabeth squeezed my knee tightly.  
\- Percy.  
A lady had just gotten on the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and an orange, knitted, shapeless hat that covered her face and carried a large, printed wool pouch. When he raised his head his black eyes sparkled, and my heart leapt.  
It was Mrs. Dodds. Older, but wrinkled, but no doubt the same evil face. I shrunk into the seat.

-She's back now? -If she admired Hephaestus.

Behind her came two more ladies: one in a green hat, the other in a purple hat. Other than that, they looked very much like Mrs. Dodds - the same shriveled hands, the same woolen bags, the same wrinkled velvet dresses. A trio of demonic grandparents.

-All the fury?! Only the hell dogs were missing, so I'd look just like Thalia-Disse Hermes.

They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two in the hallway crossed their legs right at the passageway, forming an X. That was quite normal, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.  
The bus left the station and we followed the slippery streets of Manhattan.  
\- She wasn't dead long," I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking. - I thought you said they could be kept away for a lifetime.  
\- I did, if you're lucky," Annabeth said. - You obviously aren't.  
\- All three of them-wept Grover. - Di immortales!  
\- It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously struggling to think. - The Furies. The three worst monsters in the Underworld. No problem. No problem. Let's just jump out the windows.  
\- They won't open - Grover moaned.  
\- A back exit? - she suggested.  
There wasn't one. And even if there was, it wouldn't have helped. At that point, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.  
\- They won't attack us with witnesses around," I said. - Or are they?  
\- Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded me. - Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist.  
\- They're going to see three old women kill us, aren't they?  
She thought about it.  
\- Hard to say. But we can't count on the help of mortals. Maybe an emergency exit on the ceiling...?  
We reached the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the corridor lights. It was frighteningly quiet without the sound of rain.  
Mrs. Dodds got up. In an inexpressive voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced for the entire bus:  
\- I need to use the toilet.  
\- Me too," said the second sister.  
\- Me too," said the third sister.  
They all started to approach from the corridor.  
\- I know," said Annabeth. - Percy, take my hat.  
\- What?  
\- You're the one they want. Stay invisible and go down the hall. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and escape.  
\- But you...  
\- There's a small chance they won't notice us," Annabeth said. - You're the son of one of the Big Three. Your scent should cover up ours.

-I don't know, they can be pretty vindictive, and they'll get in the way of your plans," said Persephone.

\- I can't abandon you.  
\- Don't worry about us, Grover said. - Go on!  
My hands were shaking. I felt like a coward, but I took the Yankees' cap and put it on my head.  
When I looked down, my body was no longer there.  
I started sneaking down the hall. I managed to pass ten rows, then I ducked into an empty seat right when the Furies passed.  
Mrs. Dodds stopped, sniffing, and looked right at me. My heart was pounding.  
I didn't seem to see anything. She and the sisters kept walking.  
I was free. I made it to the front of the bus. We were almost out of the Lincoln Tunnel. I was about to push the emergency stop button when I heard the abominable cries from the back row.  
The old ones weren't any older. The faces were still the same - I think it would be impossible to get uglier - but the bodies had withered and looked like brown leather on witch shapes, with bat wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. The bags had become flaming whips.  
The Furies surrounded Grover and Annabeth by snapping whips and hissing:  
\- Where is it? Where is it?

-Where, not who-The Athena-Where what?   
-The master ray? -Kicked Apollo.  
-And what would I want the master ray for? -He said Hades-Thinks mesmerizing that, I would send the furies after Percy to retrieve the ray, I am the prime suspect. They must be asking about Percy.

The other people on the bus were screaming, hiding in their seats. Okay, they saw something.  
\- He's not here! - shouted Annabeth. - He's out!  
The Furies lifted their whips.  
Annabeth pulled out the bronze knife. Grover grabbed a can of his snack bag and prepared to throw it.  
What I did next was so impulsive and dangerous that I deserved to be the king of attention deficit disorder of the year.  
The bus driver was distracted, trying to see what was happening through the rearview mirror.  
Still invisible, I grabbed the steering wheel and made a left turn. Everyone shouted as they were thrown to the right, and I heard what I expected to be the sound of the Three Furies crushed against the windows.  
\- Hey! - shouted the driver. - Hey! Whoa!  
He fought to hold the wheel. The bus collided with the side of the tunnel, the metal dragged through the wall throwing sparks one kilometer behind us.  
We left the side of the tunnel, back in the storm, with people and monsters thrown from one corner of the bus to the other and cars thrown sideways like bowling pins.  
Somehow the driver found a way out. 

We threw ourselves off the highway, passed half a dozen traffic lights and ended up shooting on one of those rural roads in New Jersey where you can't believe there's so much on the other side of the river when you leave New York. There were woods on our left and the Hudson River on our right, and the driver seemed to be deviating towards the river.  
Another great idea: I pulled the emergency brake.  
The bus moaned, traced a full circle over the wet asphalt and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door opened. The driver was the first to leave, with the passengers shouting as they ran in panic behind him. I climbed into the driver's seat and let them through.  
The Furies regained their balance. They snapped their whips at Annabeth as she waved her knife and shouted in ancient Greek to retreat. Grover was throwing cans.  
I looked at the open door. I was free to leave, but I couldn't leave my friends.

-Herod said Hera--your deadly flaw, I think that's it.

I took off my invisible cap.  
\- Hey!  
The Furies turned, showing their yellowish tusks to me, and the exit suddenly seemed like a great idea. Mrs. Dodds advanced arrogantly down the hall, as she used to do in class, ready to deliver my F in the math test. Every time she cracked her whip, red flames danced through the barbed leather.  
Her two horrible sisters jumped up on the seats on both sides and crawled towards me like two huge, disgusting lizards.  
\- Perseus Jackson," said Mrs. Dodds with an accent that came from somewhere further away than southern Georgia. - You have offended the gods. You must die.  
\- I liked you better as a math teacher," I said.  
She growled.  
Annabeth and Grover approached cautiously from behind the Furies, looking for a passage.  
I took the ballpoint pen out of my pocket and unpacked it. The counter-current stretched out and turned into a shiny double-wire sword.  
The Furies hesitated.  
Mrs. Dodds had felt the countercurrent blade before. She obviously didn't like to see it again.  
\- Surrender now - she hissed. - And you will not suffer eternal torment.  
\- Nice try - I told her.  
\- Percy, look out! - shouted Annabeth.  
Mrs. Dodds threw her whip around the hand with which I held the sword, while the Furies on either side jumped on me.  
It was as if my hand was wrapped in melted lead, but I managed not to let go of the counter-current. I hit the Fury on the left with the handle and sent her staggering back to the armchair. I turned and made a cut in the Fury on the right. As soon as the blade came into contact with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust. Annabeth grabbed Mrs. Dodds in a fighting blow and threw her back as Grover pulled the whip from her hands.  
\- Ouch," he shouted. - Ouch! Hot! Ow! Hot!  
The Fury I'd hit with the sword handle came back at me, claws in the air, but I struck a blow with counter-current and it burst like a bag full of Styrofoam balls.  
Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, scratched, hissed, and bit, but Annabeth held on tight as Grover tied her legs with his own whip. Then the two of them pushed her back down the hall.  
Mrs. Dodds tried to stand up, but there wasn't room for her to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling.  
\- Zeus will destroy him! - she promised. - Hades will have his soul!  
\- Braccas meas vescimini! - I screamed.

Everyone started laughing.   
-That boy is incredible -I said Apollo-Idiot, but incredible.

I didn't really know where Latin came from. I think he meant, "Eat my pants!"  
Thunder shook the bus. The hair stood up in the back of my head.  
\- Get out! - cried Annabeth to me. - Now!  
It wasn't necessary.  
We ran outside and found the other passengers walking around, stunned, arguing with the driver or running in circles and yelling, "We're going to die! A tourist in a Hawaiian shirt and a camera hit a picture of me before I could put the lid on my sword.  
\- Our bags! - Grover realized. - We left our...  
BUUUUUM!!  
The bus windows exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning had torn a huge crater from the ceiling, but an angry lament inside told me that Mrs. Dodds wasn't dead yet.

-You're calling for backup. -I really want to kill this kid. -Say Hades.

\- Run! - said Annabeth. - She's calling for backup! We have to get out of here!  
We plunged into the woods as the rain plummeted torrentially, the bus on fire behind us and nothing ahead but darkness.

-They lost everything, money, drachmas, nectar, everything -Lamented Hermes.


	13. Chapter 11

\- Our visit to the Garden Dwarfs Emporium-Leu Poseidon-Statues ?.

In a way, it's good to know that there are Greek gods out there, because there we have someone to blame when things go wrong. For example, when you are walking away from a bus that has just been attacked by monstrous witches and blown up by lightning, and it is raining, most people think that this is really just a lot of bad luck - when you are a half-blood, you know that some divine force is trying to ruin our day.

-Semideuses and their dramas-Bufou Zeus-Everything is our fault.

So there we were, Annabeth, Grover and me, walking through the woods along the riverbank in New Jersey, the lights of New York turning the yellow sky behind us and the stink of the Hudson River coming in through our nose.  
Grover was shaking and bleating, and his big goat eyes, whose pupils had become slits, were filled with terror.  
\- Three Benevolents. All three at once.

-Really, I am well committed to that boy-Said Hades-The question is why ?.  
-Maybe you have no reason-Said Artemis-You killed Thalia because Zeus broke the oath, maybe that's it with Percy.

I was in shock myself. The explosion from the bus windows still echoed in my ears. But Annabeth kept us going, saying:  
\- Let's go! The further we get, the better.  
"All of our money was left behind," I remembered. - Our food and our clothes. All.  
\- Well, who knows if you hadn't decided to join the fight ...

-Now is it Percy's fault? He saved them both. The furies would kill them mercilessly, ”said Poseidon.

\- What did you want me to do? Let you be killed?  
\- You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I was going to be okay.  
"Sliced like loaf of bread," said Grover, "but it was fine."

"Shut up, goat boy," said Annabeth.  
Grover bleated, sad.  
\- The cans ... A perfectly good can bag.  
We splashed across muddy lands, through horrible twisted trees that smelled sour with dirty laundry.  
After a few minutes, Annabeth came to my side.  
"Look, I ..." his voice faltered. - I liked that you came back to defend us, okay? That was really brave.  
\- We are a team, right?  
She was silent for a few more steps.  
\- It's just that if you died ... in addition to the fact that it would really be a drug for you, it would mean the end of the mission. This may be my only chance to see the real world.

"How long has it been since she left camp?"

The storm had finally subsided. The city lights dimmed behind us, leaving us in almost complete darkness. He couldn't see anything of Annabeth but a reflection of her blond hair.  
\- You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven? - I asked him.  
\- No ... just quick excursions. My dad...  
\- The history teacher.  
\- IS. Living at home didn't work. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my home. - She was now pouring out the words as if she was afraid that someone would interrupt her. - At the camp we train, train. And it's cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. It is where we find out if it is useful for something or not.  
If I didn't know you well, I could have sworn I heard doubt in your voice.  
"You are very good with that knife," I said.  
\- You think?  
\- Anyone who is able to ride on the back of a Fury, for me, is very good.  
I couldn't really see it, but I think she smiled.  
\- You know - she said - maybe I should tell you ... Something funny on the bus ...  
Whatever she meant was interrupted by a high-pitched joke, like the sound of an owl being tortured.  
\- Hey, my bamboo flutes still work! Exclaimed Grover. - If only I could remember a “find way” tune, we could get out of these woods!  
He blew some notes, but the similarity of the melody to Hilary Duff's was still questionable.  
Instead of finding a way, I immediately crashed into a tree and got a good-sized rooster on my head.  
Add to the list of superpowers that I don't have: infrared vision.  
After stumbling, cursing and, in general, feeling unhappy for another kilometer or so, I started to see lights ahead: the colors of a neon sign.  
I smelled food. Fried, greasy, excellent food.

-In the middle of the forest ?! - Said Athena.

I realized that I hadn't eaten anything that wasn't healthy since I arrived at Colina Meio-Sangue, where we lived on grapes, bread, cheese and light barbecue prepared by nymphs. The boy here needed a double cheeseburger.  
We kept walking until I saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees.  
On the other side there was a closed gas station, a poster from a 90's movie and an open store, which was the source of neon light and the pleasant smell.

It was not a fast food restaurant as I expected. It was one of those strange roadside curio shops that sell garden flamingos, wooden Indians, cement brown bears and the like. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by miles of statues. The neon sign above the gate was impossible to read for me, because if there is anything worse for my dyslexia than normal English, it is English in cursive letters, red, in neon.  
To me, it looked like MEOPRÓI ED NESÕA ED JIDARN AD IAT MEE.  
\- What the hell did that say? - I asked.  
"I don't know," said Annabeth.  
She loved to read so much that I had forgotten that she was also dyslexic.  
Grover translated:  
\- Aunt Eme's Garden Dwarfs Emporium.

"She mustn't sell anything," said Hermes.

On the sides of the entrance, as announced, there were two cement garden dwarfs, some dwarf and ugly and bearded, smiling and waving as if they were posing for a photograph.  
I crossed the street, following the smell of hamburgers.  
"Hey ..." warned Grover.  
"The lights are on in there," said Annabeth. - Maybe it's open.  
"Diner," I said anxiously.  
"Diner," she agreed.  
\- Are you two crazy? Said Grover. - This place is weird.  
We ignored him.  
The front yard was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the flutes, which left Grover with goosebumps.  
\- Béééé! - bleated. - It looks like my uncle Ferdinando!  
We stopped in front of the warehouse door.  
"Don't knock," pleaded Grover. - I smell monsters.

-But which monster? -Ares asked -I hope an interesting one.

"Your nose is congested with the Furies," Annabeth told him. - The only smell I can smell is hamburgers. You are not hungry?  
\- Beef! He said dismissively. - I'm a vegetarian.  
"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," I reminded him.  
\- They're vegetables. Come on, let's go. These statues are ... looking at me.  
Then the door creaked open, and before us was a tall, Middle Eastern woman - I at least assumed she was from there, because she wore a long black dress that hid everything but her hands, and her head was completely covered by a veil. His eyes shone under a black gauze curtain, but that was all I could make out. Her coffee-colored hands looked old, but well cared for and elegant, so I figured she was a grandmother who was once a beautiful lady

-Dwarfs, Aunt Eme-murmured Athena-I think, I know what the monster is. Keep reading.

Her accent also had a Middle Eastern feel. She said:  
\- Children, it is too late to be alone on the street. Where are your parents?  
"They're ... uh ..." Annabeth started to say.  
"We are orphans," I said.  
\- Orphans? Said the woman. The word sounded strange in his mouth. - But dear ones! Certainly not!  
"We got lost in the caravan," I said. - The caravan of our circus. The Master of Ceremonies told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or perhaps referred to another gas station. Anyway, we are lost. Is that smell like food?

\- He doesn't know how to hide it.

"Ah, dear ones," said the woman. - You need to come in, poor children. I'm Aunt Eme. Go straight to the back of the warehouse, please. There is a place for meals there.  
We thanked and entered.  
Annabeth murmured to me:  
\- Circus caravan?  
\- There's always a strategy, right?  
\- Your head is full of seaweed.  
The warehouse was crammed with more statues - people, all in different poses, wearing different clothes and with different expressions on their faces. I was wondering that it was necessary to have a very large garden to house even a single statue of those, because they were all life-size

-Natural statues, it's the ...  
-Yes Poseidon. It's Medusa-Said Athena.

But I was really thinking about food.  
Go ahead, you can call me an idiot for going into a strange lady's shop like that just because I was hungry, but sometimes I do things on impulse.  
Besides, you never smelled Aunt Eme's hamburgers. The aroma was like a hilarious gas in the dentist's chair - it made everything else go away

-She uses the scent to attract people-Said Apollo.

I barely noticed Grover's nervous sobs, or the way the statues' eyes seemed to follow me, or the fact that Aunt Eme had locked the door behind us.  
All I cared about was finding the place for meals. And without a doubt, there was, at the bottom of the warehouse, a sandwich counter with a grill, a soda machine, a pretzel oven and a nacho cheese machine. Everything we could possibly want, plus a few steel picnic tables at the front.  
"Please have a seat," said Aunt Eme.  
"Fantastic," I said.  
"Um," said Grover reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am."

Before I could elbow him in the ribs, Aunt Eme said:  
\- No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, right? For such nice orphans, it's on me.  
"Thank you, ma'am," said Annabeth.  
Aunt Eme stiffened, as if Annabeth had said something wrong, but then, just as quickly, she relaxed.

"She knows that she is your daughter Athena," said Hephaestus.

So I thought I was imagining things.  
\- You’re welcome, Annabeth. You have such beautiful gray eyes, child. - Only then did I wonder how she knew Annabeth's name, since we hadn't introduced ourselves.  
Our hostess disappeared behind the counter and started cooking. Before I knew it, she had brought us plastic trays with double cheeseburgers, vanilla milkshakes and giant portions of fries.  
I had already eaten half of my sandwich when I remembered to breathe.  
Annabeth sipped her milkshake loudly. Grover pinched the fries and looked at the paper towel on the tray as if he could try it, but he still seemed too nervous to eat.  
\- What is that hiss? He asked.

"Snakes," said Dionysus.

I paid attention, but heard nothing. Annabeth shook her head.  
\- Wheezing? Asked Aunt Eme. - Maybe you're listening to the frying oil. You have good ears, Grover.  
\- I take vitamins. For the ears.  
"Admirable," she said. - But please relax.  
Aunt Eme didn't eat anything. She hadn't even discovered her head to cook, and now she was sitting with her fingers intertwined, watching as we ate. It was a little uncomfortable to be watched by someone whose face I couldn't see, but I was satisfied after the sandwich, and a little drowsy, and I figured the least I could do was make a little conversation with our hostess.  
"So, you sell dwarves," I said, trying to look interested.  
"Ah, yes," said Aunt Eme. - And animals. And people. Everything for the garden. On request. Statues are very popular, you know.  
\- Too much movement on that road?  
\- No, not really. Since the highway was built ... most cars no longer go this way. I need to take good care of each client I receive.  
I felt a tingle in the back of my neck, as if someone was watching me. I turned around, but it was just the statue of a little girl holding an Easter basket. The details were incredible, much better than seen in most garden statues. But there was something wrong with his face. She looked scared, even terrified.

-They haven't noticed, not even Annabeth-Nemesis said without believing.  
"They're on a sleeping pill," said Hecate.

\- Ah! Said Aunt Eme sadly. - You can notice that some of my creations don't work very well. They are defective. They don't sell. The face is the most difficult part to come out perfect. Always the face.  
\- Do you make these statues yourself? - I asked.  
\- Ah yes. I already had two sisters to help me in the business, but they passed away, and Aunt Eme was left alone. I only have my statues. That's why I do them, you know? They are my company. - The sadness in her voice seemed so deep and so real that I couldn't help feeling sorry.  
Annabeth had stopped eating. She leaned over and said:  
\- Two sisters?  
"It's a terrible story," said Aunt Eme. - It's not for kids, actually. See, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me, a long time ago, when I was young. I had a ... a boyfriend, you know, and this bad woman was determined to separate us. It caused a terrible accident. My sisters sided with me. They shared my bad luck as long as possible, but eventually they died. They are gone. Only I survived, but at a price. What a price.  
I didn't quite understand what she meant, but I felt sorry. My eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, my full stomach made me sleepy. Poor old lady. Who would want to hurt someone so kind?  
\- Percy? - Annabeth was shaking me to get my attention. - I think we should go. I mean, the circus ringmaster must be waiting.

-For Estige, she realized-Said Aphrodite.

Her voice sounded strained. I didn't quite know why. Grover was eating the waxed paper from the tray, but if Aunt Eme found it strange, she said nothing.  
"What beautiful gray eyes," she said to Annabeth again. - Ah, but I haven't seen gray eyes like that in a long time.  
She reached out as if to caress Annabeth's face, but Annabeth stood up abruptly.  
\- We really need to go.  
\- Yes! Grover swallowed the waxed paper towel and got to his feet. - The emcee is waiting! That!  
I did not want to go. He was satisfied and content. Aunt Eme was very kind. I wanted to stay with her for a while.  
"Please, dear ones," Aunt Eme pleaded. - It's so rare for me to be with children ... Before I go, wouldn't you like to at least pose for a photo?  
\- A photo? Asked Annabeth cautiously.

\- Yes, a photograph. I will use it as a model for a new set of statues. Children are very popular, you know? Everyone loves children.  
Annabeth rocked from foot to foot.  
\- I don't think we can, lady. Come on, Percy ...  
"Of course we can," I said. He was annoyed with Annabeth for being so bossy, so rude to an old lady who had just given us free food. - It's just a picture, Annabeth. What is the problem?  
"Yes, Annabeth," the woman murmured. - There is no harm.  
I realized that Annabeth didn't like it, but she let Aunt Eme take us out the front door and into the statuary garden.  
Aunt Eme led us to a garden bench near the stone satyr.  
\- Now - she said - I will position you correctly. The girl in the middle, and the two young gentlemen on each side.  
"There isn't much light for a photo," I observed.  
"Ah, that's enough," said Aunt Eme. - Enough to see each other, isn't it?  
\- Where's your camera? Asked Grover.  
Aunt Eme took a step back, as if to admire the photo.  
\- Now, the face is the most difficult. Can you smile at me, please, everyone? A big smile?  
Grover glanced at the cement satyr beside him and murmured:  
\- It really looks like Uncle Ferdinando.  
\- Grover! Scolded Aunt Eme. - Look this way, dear.  
She still didn't have a camera in her hands.  
"Percy ..." said Annabeth.  
Some instinct warned me to listen to Annabeth, but I was fighting the feeling of sleep, the pleasant softness induced by the food and the old lady's voice.  
"It won't be a second," said Aunt Eme. - You know, I can't see them very well because of that damn veil ...  
"Percy, something is wrong," Annabeth insisted.  
\- Wrong? Said Aunt Ema, raising her hands to remove the veil around her head. - Not at all, dear. I am in such a noble company tonight. What could be wrong?  
\- That's Uncle Ferdinando! Said Grover, gasping.  
\- Don't look at her! Cried Annabeth. In the blink of an eye, she tucked the Yankees cap on her head and disappeared. His invisible hands pushed Grover and me off the bench.  
I found myself lying on the floor, looking at the sandals on Aunt Eme's feet. I could hear Grover running to one side and Annabeth to the other. But I was too stunned to move.

"That boy is pathetic," said Dionysus.

Then I heard a strange sound, a hiss, above me. My eyes went up to Aunt Eme's hands, which became wrinkled and full of warts, with sharp bronze claws instead of nails.  
I almost looked up higher, but somewhere to my left Annabeth shouted:  
\- No! Do not look!  
More hissing - the sound of little snakes, just above me, coming from ... where Aunt Eme's head was supposed to be.  
\- Run! Bleated Grover.  
I heard him running across the boulders, shouting "Maia!" to start your flying sneakers. I couldn't move. I stared at Aunt Eme's curled claws, and tried to fight the numbing trance the old woman had put me in.

"He was the one who ate the most," said Hades.

"What a pity to have to destroy such a beautiful young face," he said comfortably. - Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up.  
I fought the urge to obey. Instead, I looked to the side and saw one of those glass balls that people put in the gardens - a mirrored sphere. I could see Aunt Eme's dark reflection in the orange glass; her veil was gone, revealing her face like a pale flickering circle. The hair moved, twisting like snakes. Aunt Eme. Aunt "M".  
How could I be so stupid? Think, I told myself. How did Medusa die in the myth? But I couldn't think. Something told me that the Medusa of the myth was sleeping when it was attacked by my namesake, Perseus. Now, I wasn't sleepy at all. If I wanted to, I could use those claws right there and rip my face.  
"The Gray Eye did that to me, Percy," said Medusa, she didn't sound like a monster. His voice invited me to look up, to sympathize with the poor old grandma. - Annabeth's mother, the damned Athena, transformed the beautiful woman I was into this here.  
\- Don't listen to her! Shouted Annabeth's voice, from somewhere between the statues. - Run, Percy!  
\- Silence! Snarled Medusa. Then his voice went back to a reassuring murmur.  
\- You see why I need to destroy the girl, Percy. She is the daughter of my enemy. I will crush your statue to dust. But you, dear, you don't have to suffer.  
"No," I murmured. - I tried to make my legs move.  
\- Do you really want to help the gods? Asked Medusa. - Do you understand what awaits you on this silly mission, Percy? What will happen if I reach the Underworld? Don't be an Olympian pawn, my dear. You will be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain.  
\- Percy!  
Behind me, I heard a humming sound, like that of a hundred-pound hummingbird taking a dip.

Grover shouted:  
\- Get down!  
I turned around, and there he was, Grover, in the night sky, coming right in front of me, flying sneakers flapping his wings, holding a baseball bat-sized tree branch. His eyes were closed tightly, his head was shaking from side to side. It was guided only by the ears and the nose.  
\- Get down! He shouted again. - I'll get it!  
That finally woke me up for action. Knowing Grover, I was sure he was going to miss Medusa and hit me. I dove to one side.  
Plaft!  
At first I thought it was the sound of Grover hitting a tree. Then Medusa roared with rage.  
"You miserable satyr," he snarled. - I'll add it to my collection!  
\- That was for Uncle Ferdinando! Shouted Grover back.

"With more strength," said Demeter.

I stumbled out and hid among the statues while Grover dived for another attack.  
Pimba!  
\- Aaargh! Shouted Medusa, the hair snakes hissing and spitting.  
Right next to me, Annabeth's voice said:  
\- Percy!  
I jumped so high that my feet almost knocked over a garden dwarf.  
\- There! Do not do it!  
Annabeth took off the Yankees' cap and became visible.  
\- You have to cut off her head.  
\- What?  
\- Are you crazy? Let's get out of here.  
\- Medusa is a threat. She is bad. I would kill her myself, but ... ”Annabeth swallowed, as if she were about to admit something difficult. - But you have the best weapon. Besides, I'll never be able to get close to her. She would make me into little pieces because of my mother. You ... you have a chance.

-If Percy attacks, maybe it will take time to react, since she still likes you uncle-Said Apolo.-At least I think he still does.

\- What? I can not...  
\- Look, do you want her to turn more innocent people into a statue?  
She pointed to the statues of a loving couple, a man and a woman holding each other, turned to stone by the monster.  
Annabeth, grabbed a green mirrored sphere from a nearby pedestal.  
\- A mirrored shield would be better. - She studied the sphere critically. - Convexity will cause some distortion. The size of the reflection will be distorted by a factor of ...  
\- Want to speak in a language I understand?  
\- I'm speaking! - She threw the glass ball at me. - Just look at Medusa in the mirror. Never look directly at her.  
\- Hey, guys! Shouted Grover somewhere above us. - I think she's unconscious!  
\- Grrraaaurrr!  
"Maybe not," he corrected. And dove for another attack.  
"Hurry," said Annabeth to me. - Grover has an excellent nose, but he will fall.  
I took my pen and removed the cap. The brass blade of Riptide stretched in my hand.  
I followed the hissing and spitting sounds of Medusa's hair.  
I kept my eyes fixed on the mirrored sphere to see only the reflection of the monster, not the real thing. Then, in the green-tinted glass, I saw it.  
Grover was coming down for another stick assault, but this time he flew a little too low. Medusa grabbed the stick and dodged it off course. He did a somersault in the air and fell into the arms of a stone brown bear with a painful "Uummmpff".  
Medusa was about to jump on him when I shouted:  
\- Hey!  
I moved towards her, which was not easy, holding a sword and a glass ball. If Medusa attacked, it would be difficult to defend myself. But she let me get close - six meters, three meters.

-I knew, she still likes you.

It was now possible to see the reflection of his face. It certainly wasn't that ugly. The green curves of the mirrored ball must have been distorting the image, making it even worse.  
"You wouldn't hurt an old lady, Percy," she whispered. - I know I wouldn't do that.  
I hesitated, fascinated by the face I saw reflected in the glass - the eyes that seemed to burn reflected in the greenish tone, making my arms weaken.  
From above the cement brown bear, Grover groaned:  
\- Percy, don't listen to him!  
Medusa laughed.  
\- Too late.  
She launched herself at me with her claws. I struck with the sword, heard a plof! nauseating, and then a hissing sound like wind escaping from a cave - the sound of a monster disintegrating.  
Something fell to the floor beside my foot. I had to gather all my willpower not to look. I could feel a warm discharge soaking up my sock and dying little snakes pulling on the laces of my shoes.  
\- Ah, yuck! Said Grover. His eyes were still tightly closed, but I imagine he could hear it gurgling and smoking. - Megaeca.  
Annabeth approached me, her eyes fixed on the sky. He was holding Medusa's veil.  
"Don't move," she said.  
Very, very carefully, without looking down, he knelt and wrapped the monster's head in the black cloth, then lifted it. It was still dripping green juice.  
\- Are you all right? He asked me in a shaky voice.  
"Yes," I concluded, although I felt like throwing up my double cheeseburger. - Why ... why didn't the head evaporate?

"After you cut it off, it becomes a war trophy," she said. - Like Minotaur's horn. But don't unwrap it. It can still petrify you.  
Grover groaned as he descended from the grizzly bear statue. He had a big bump on his forehead. The green Rasta cap was hanging from one of the little goat horns and the fake feet had been pulled out of their hooves. Magic sneakers flew aimlessly around his head.  
"Our great aviator," I said. - Good job, man.  
He managed to give an embarrassed smile.  
\- Although, in fact, it was not fun at all. Well, the part about hitting it with the stick, that was good. But munch on a concrete bear? Nothing fun.  
He grabbed his sneakers in the air. I put the lid on my sword. Together, the three of us staggered back to the warehouse. We found some old plastic bags behind the snack counter and wrapped Medusa's head twice. With a plop, we dropped the thing on the table where we had had dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak. Finally I said:  
\- So we have to thank Athena for this monster?

"Thank Poseidon," said Athena, her gray eyes shining with anger.

Annabeth gave me an annoyed look.  
\- Your father, actually. Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They arranged to meet at my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her sisters, who helped her enter the temple, became the three Gorgons. That's why she wanted to chop me up, but she was going to keep you as a beautiful statue. He still likes his father. You must have made her remember him.  
My face was on fire.  
\- Ah, so it's my fault that we found Medusa?  
Annabeth straightened up. In a bad imitation of my voice, he said:  
\- “It's just a photo, Annabeth. What is the problem?"  
"Never mind," I said. - You are impossible.  
\- You are unbearable.  
\- You are...  
\- Hey! - Grover interrupted. - You two are giving me migraine. And satyrs don't even have a migraine. What are we going to do with the head?  
I looked at that. A small snake was hanging out of a hole in the plastic. The words printed on the bag said: THANK YOU FOR YOUR VISIT!  
I was angry, not only with Annabeth or her mother, but with all the gods because of that mission, for getting us off the road and for the two big battles on the first day outside the camp. At this rate, we would never make it to Los Angeles alive, much less before the summer solstice.  
What had Medusa said? Don't be an Olympian pawn, my dear. You will be better off as a statue.  
I got up.  
\- I'll be right back.  
"Percy," called Annabeth. - What you...  
I searched the back of the warehouse until I found Medusa's office. His ledger showed the six most recent sales, all remitted to the Underworld to decorate the garden of Hades and Persephone.

"I like statues," said Persephone.

According to a shipping note, the billing address for the Underworld was the M.A.C. Recording Studios - Dead on Arrival -, West Hollywood, California. I folded the note and stuffed it in my pocket.  
At the cash register I found twenty dollars, some gold drachmas and some Hermes Night Express delivery notes, each with a small leather bag attached, for coins. I scanned the rest of the office until I found a box of the right size.  
I went back to the picnic table, boxed Medusa's head and filled out a delivery note:  
TO THE GODS  
MONTE OLIMPO,  
600th FLOOR,  
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING  
NEW YORK, NY  
WITH BEST REGARDS,  
PERCY JACKSON

-Dare not-said Poseidon with a smile.  
-Daring? It's an idiot, ”said Zeus,“ it will have consequences.

"They won't like this," warned Grover. - They'll find you naughty.  
I put some gold drachmas in the attached bag. As soon as I closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop!  
"I'm naughty," he said.  
I looked at Annabeth, daring her to criticize me.  
She did not criticize. It seemed resigned to the fact that I had a knack for upsetting the gods.  
"Come on," she murmured. - We need a new plan.


	14. Chapter 12

\- A poodle is our advisor-Leu Dionísio.-Are you going to ask a dog for advice?

We were feeling super unhappy that night.  
We camped in the woods, a hundred meters from the main road, in a marshy clearing that the local children had obviously been using for parties. The floor was littered with crushed soda cans and fast-food packaging.  
We had taken some food and blankets from Aunt Eme, but we did not dare to light a fire to dry our wet clothes. The Furies and Medusa had already provided enough entertainment for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else.

We decided to sleep in shifts. I made myself ready to be the first to stand guard. Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was already snoring when her head hit the floor. Grover climbed up in his flying sneakers to the lowest branch of a tree, leaned against the trunk and stared up at the night sky.  
"Go ahead and go to sleep," I told him. - I'll wake you up if there's a problem.  
He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes.  
\- It makes me sad, Percy.  
\- What? Have you joined this stupid mission?  
\- No. It makes me sad. - He pointed to all that trash on the floor. - And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr.

-I'm also sad-said Artemis-And at the time of the books, the pollution must be much worse. Mortals will end up with the earth.  
I hope the world still has a way.

\- Ah yes. I think you would be an environmentalist.  
He gave me a penetrating look.  
\- Only a human being would not be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast that ... Why, it doesn't matter. It is useless to preach to a human being. The way things are going, I will never find Pan.

-How do they manage to trust an intuition? They think Pan is alive, and they go blindly after him, ”said Hades.

\- What bread?  
\- Bread! He shouted, indignant. - P-Ã. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a search engine license for?  
A strange breeze rustles the clearing, covering for a moment the stench of garbage and putrefaction. It carried the scent of fruits and wild flowers, and clean water from rain, things that must have once existed in those woods. Suddenly, I missed something I had never known.  
"Tell me about the search," I said.  
Grover looked at me warily, as if he feared that I was just having fun at his expense.  
"The God of the Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he said. - A sailor from the coast of Ephesus heard a mysterious voice shouting on the beach: "Tell them that the great god Pan died!" When human beings heard the news, they believed it. They have been pillaging the kingdom of Pan ever since. But for satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He was our protector, and also of the wild places on Earth. We don't believe he died. With each generation, the bravest satyrs commit their lives to find Pan. They scan the planet, exploring all the wildest places waiting to find the place where he will hide and wake him from his sleep.  
\- And you want to be a seeker.  
"It's the dream of my life," he said. - My father was a seeker. It's my uncle  
Ferdinando ... the statue you saw there ...  
\- Ah, right, sorry.  
Grover shook his head.  
\- Uncle Ferdinando knew the risks. My father too. But I will succeed. I will be the first seeker to return alive.  
\- Wait ... the first one?  
Grover took his bamboo flutes out of his pocket.  
\- No seeker has ever returned. After they leave, they disappear. They are never seen alive again.  
\- Not once in two thousand years?  
\- No.  
\- And your father? Do you have no idea what happened to him?  
\- None.

-I wonder what happens to these Satyrs-Said Hestia.

"But you still want to go," I said, admired. "I mean, do you really think it will be you who will find Pan?"  
\- I need to believe that, Percy. Every seeker believes. It is the only thing that keeps us from being desperate when we look at what human beings have done to the world. I have to believe that Pan may still be awake.  
I looked at the orange fog in the sky and tried to understand how Grover could pursue a dream that seemed so impossible. But, on the other hand, was I better?  
\- How are we going to enter the Underworld? - I asked. - I mean, what chances do we have against a god?  
"I don't know," he admitted. - But before, at Medusa's house, when you were searching her office, Annabeth told me ...  
\- Oh, I forgot. Annabeth always has a plan in place.  
\- Don't be so hard on her, Percy. Annabeth has had a difficult life, but she is a good person. After all, she forgave me ... - he broke off.  
-Did you forgive ?.

\- What you mean? - I asked. - Forgiven what?  
Suddenly, Grover seemed very interested in taking notes from his flutes.  
"Wait a minute," I said. - Your first guardian job was five years ago. Annabeth has been at the camp for five years.  
It wasn't ... I mean, your first task that went wrong ...

-The satyr who accompanied Thalia, and two more demigods was Grover? - Zeus said in amazement - And is he still a protector? What went on with the cracked hooves board ?.  
"And now you're Percy's protector," said Poseidon, concerned.

"I can't talk about it," said Grover, and the tremor in his lower lip suggested that he would start crying if I pressed him. - But as I was saying, back at Medusa's house Annabeth and I thought there was something strange about this mission. Something that is not what it seems.  
\- Ah, news. I'm being accused of stealing lightning that Hades caught.  
\- I don't mean that. The Fú ... the Benevolentes seemed to be holding on. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy ... why did she wait so long to try to kill him? Then, on the bus, they were not as aggressive as they could be.

"They need him alive," said Persephone.

\- They seemed quite aggressive to me.  
Grover shook his head.  
\- They were screeching at us: “Where is it? Where?"  
"They asked about me," I said.  
\- Maybe ... but both me and Annabeth had the feeling they weren't asking about a person. They just asked "Where is it?", Not where he or she is. They seemed to speak of an object.  
\- It makes no sense.  
\- I know. But, if we have misunderstood something about this mission, and we only have nine days to find the master ray ... - He looked at me as if waiting for answers, but I had none.  
I thought about what Medusa had said: I was being used by the gods. What awaited me was worse than petrification.  
"I haven't been honest with you," I told Grover. - I don't care about the master ray. I agreed to go to the Underworld so I could bring my mother back.  
Grover blew a soft note on his flutes.  
\- I know, Percy. But are you sure that is the only reason?  
\- I'm not doing this to help my father. He doesn't care about me I don't care about him.

-He wants to help me ?!  
-Of course, you are his father-Said Quiron-They do not hate you, they just want to live with you. When will they understand this?

From his branch, Grover looked carefully down.  
\- Look, Percy. I'm not as smart as Annabeth. I'm not as brave as you are. But I am very good at reading emotions. You are happy because your father is alive. It makes you feel good that he took you on as a son, and part of you wants him to be proud. That's why you dispatched Medusa's head to Olympus. You wanted him to see what you did.  
\- Really? Well, maybe satyr's emotions work differently than human emotions. Because you are wrong. I don't care what he thinks.  
Grover pulled his feet up on the branch.  
\- Right, Percy. Whatever.  
\- Besides, I didn't do anything too much to boast. But we left New York and are already stranded here with no money and no way to go west.  
Grover looked up at the night sky, as if thinking about the problem.  
\- How about I take the first shift, huh? Go get some sleep.  
I wanted to protest, but he started playing Mozart, sweaty and sweet, and I turned to the other side, eyes burning. After a few notes from Piano Concerto No. 12 I was asleep.  
In my dreams, I was in a dark cave on the edge of a huge chasm. Gray misty creatures revolved around me, whispering strips of smoke that I somehow knew were the spirits of the dead.

"Lower world," murmured Apollo.

They pulled on my clothes, trying to push me back, but I felt compelled to walk forward, to the edge. Looking down made me dizzy. The chasm opened so voraciously and so wide, and it was so completely black, that I knew I shouldn't have a bottom. However, I had the feeling that something was trying to emerge from there, something huge and evil.

-Chronos? -Athena said shocked.  
-He's under arrest-Said Zeus-He's just pissing.

The little hero, a voice resounded in delight, coming from below, from the darkness. Too weak, too young, but maybe you'll do.

-He wants to use Percy, he wants to get up, said Demeter.  
-He has no strength, it's just a voice-Said Ares.

The voice sounded ancient - cold and heavy. It wrapped me up like lead sheets.  
They tricked you, boy, she said. Make an exchange with me. I will give you what you want.  
A flickering image hovered above the void: my mother, frozen the moment it dissolved in a golden shower. His face was distorted with pain, as if the Minotaur still clutched his neck. The eyes looked at me, pleading: Go!  
I tried to scream, but my voice didn't come out. From the abyss, a cold laugh echoed.  
An invisible force pulled me forward. I was going to drag myself over the precipice if I couldn't stand it.  
Help me up, boy. The voice became more greedy. Bring me the lightning. Deliver a blow to the treacherous gods!  
The spirits of the dead whispered around me: No! Wake up!  
My mother's image started to fade. The thing in the abyss tightened its invisible claw around me. I realized that she didn't want to pull me inside. She was using me to lift herself out.  
Well, the thing murmured. Good.  
Wake up! whispered the dead. Wake up!  
Someone was shaking me.  
My eyes opened, and it was day.

-He woke up!.

\- Ah! Said Annabeth. - The zombie comes back to life.  
I was shaking because of the dream. I could still feel the grip of the abyss monster around my chest.  
\- How long have I been sleeping?  
"Enough for me to prepare breakfast." Annabeth tossed me a bag of nacho-flavored corn flakes from Aunt Eme's diner. - And for Grover to go out and explore. Look, he found a friend.  
I had difficulties in focusing my eyes. Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy on his lap, a dirty stuffed animal and an artificial pink color. No. It was not a stuffed animal. It was a pink poodle. The poodle barked at me suspiciously.

-Not even the dog likes him-laughed Nemesis.

Grover said:  
\- No he's not.  
I blinked.  
\- Are you ... talking to this thing?  
The poodle snarled.  
"This thing," said Grover, "is our ticket to the west." Be nice to him.  
\- Can you talk to animals?  
Grover ignored the question.  
\- Percy, I introduce Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy.  
I looked at Annabeth, calculating that she was going to laugh at the prank they were playing on me, but she looked extremely serious.  
"I won't say hello to a pink poodle," I said. - Forget.  
\- Percy - said Annabeth - I said hello to the poodle. Say hello to the poodle.  
The poodle snarled.  
I said hello to the poodle.

-This boy is ... strange-said Hephaestus-Sometimes he is an idiot, other times he is brave, or an imbecile.

Grover explained that he had found Gladiola in the woods and that they started talking. The poodle had run away from a well-to-do family who had offered two hundred dollars in reward to anyone who returned it. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to the family, but he was willing to, if it was going to help Grover.

-How attentive-Said Hecate-And they can travel with money.

\- How does Gladiola know about the reward? - I asked.  
"He read the notices," said Grover. - Obvious ...  
"Of course," I said. - How silly of me.  
"So we delivered Gladiola," explained Annabeth, in her best strategist tone, "we got the money and bought tickets to Los Angeles." Simple.  
I thought of the dream - the whispering voices of the dead, the thing in the abyss and my mother's face, flickering as it dissolved into gold. It could all be waiting for me in the west.  
"Not on another bus," he said cautiously.  
"No," agreed Annabeth.  
She pointed down the hill at the train tracks that I hadn't been able to see the night before, in the dark.  
\- There's an Amtrack station a mile in that direction. According to Gladiola, the train to the west leaves at noon.

-Then it is better to run, until you take the Poodle, and go back to catch the train-Said Quiron.


	15. Chapter 13

-My dive to death-Leu Hephaestus widening his eye.  
-Maybe it's something else-Apollo suggested-The names in the chapters are quite strange.  
\- Or maybe he really dies - Twisted Dionysus.  
Chiron smiled a little, knew that the god liked heroes, deep down.

We spent two days on the train, heading west over the hills, over rivers, crossing waves of amber-colored wheat. We haven't been attacked once, but I haven't relaxed. I felt that we were traveling in a shop window, being watched from above and, perhaps from below, that something was waiting for the right moment.  
I tried to be discreet, as my name and photo were on the front pages of several East Coast newspapers. The Trenton Register-News published a photo taken by a tourist when I got off the Greyhound bus. He had a crazy look in his eyes. My sword was a metallic smudge in my hands. It could be a baseball or lacrosse stick.

-By the photo, they will think he attacked the bus-said Poseidon.

The caption on the photo read:  
Percy Jackson, 12, wanted for questioning about his mother's disappearance on Long Island two weeks ago, appears here fleeing the bus where he boarded several elderly passengers. The bus exploded on the side of a highway east of New Jersey shortly after Jackson escaped from the crime scene. Based on eyewitness reports, the police believe the boy may be traveling with two teenage accomplices.

-He will get Annabeth in trouble-said Athena with a grimace to make even Medusa afraid.

The stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, offered a cash reward for any information leading to his capture.

"Don't worry," Annabeth told me. - The mortal police would never find us.  
But it didn't feel very safe.  
I spent the rest of the day alternating between walking from one end of the train to the other (since it was difficult for me to sit down) and look out the windows. On one occasion I saw a family of centaurs galloping through a field of wheat, arches at the ready, as if they were hunting for lunch. The little centaur boy, who was the size of a pony, noticed that I was looking and waved. I looked around the passenger car, but no one else noticed. The adult passengers were all buried in laptops or magazines.  
In another, more at dusk, I saw something very big moving through the woods. I could have sworn it was a lion, only there are no lions living loose in the United States, and that was the size of a battle tank. The coat had golden highlights in the evening light.

"Lion of Nemea?" Suggested Artemis.

He then jumped through the trees and disappeared.  
The reward money for returning the Gladiola poodle was only enough to buy tickets to Denver. We were unable to buy beds in the sleeping car, so we dozed off in the seats. My neck went stiff. I tried not to drool while I slept, since Annabeth was sitting right next to me.

Grover was snoring and bleating, and he woke me up. In a moment he was too agitated and one of his fake feet fell. Annabeth and I had to shove it back before any of the other passengers noticed.  
\- And then - Annabeth asked me after we replaced Grover's sneakers - who wants your help?  
\- What you mean?  
\- When you were sleeping right now, you murmured "I don't want to help you". Who were you dreaming of?  
I was in doubt about saying anything. It was the second time that I dreamed of the evil voice of the abyss. It bothered me so much that I finally told her. Annabeth was silent for a long time.  
\- It doesn't look like Hades. He always appears sitting on a black throne, and never laughs.  
\- He offered my mother in return. Who else could do that?  
\- I think ... if he wanted to say "Help me to rise from the Underworld" ... If he wants war with the Olympians ... But why ask you for the master ray, if he already has it?  
I shook my head, wanting to know the answer. I thought about what Grover had said, that the Furies on the bus seemed to be looking for something.  
Where is it? Where?  
Perhaps Grover had felt my emotions. He snorted in his sleep, mumbled something about vegetables, and turned his head.  
Annabeth adjusted his cap to cover the horns.  
\- Percy, you cannot negotiate with Hades. You know that, right? He is deceitful, cruel and greedy

"Is that what they think of me?" Hades asked in surprise.

. I don't care if your Benevolents weren't so aggressive this time ...  
\- This time? - I asked. - You mean you have met them before?

Her hand slid up to the necklace. She handled a white glazed bead on which was painted the image of a pine tree, one of her late summer landmarks, in clay.  
\- Let's just say that I don't love the Lord of the Dead. You cannot be tempted to negotiate your mother.  
\- What would you do if it were your father?  
"That's easy," she said. - I would let it rot.  
\- Seriously?  
Annabeth's gray eyes fixed on me. They had the same expression I saw in the woods, at the camp, the moment she drew her sword against the hellhound.  
"My father hated me from the day I was born, Percy," she said. - He never wanted a baby. When he won me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus, because he was too busy with his work.

-I don't believe it -Athena said -That's why I don't like mortals very much.

She was not happy with that. I told him that heroes must be created by their mortal relative.  
\- But how ... I mean, you weren't born in a hospital ...  
\- I appeared at my father's door, in a golden cradle, brought from Olympus by Zephyr, the Western Wind. Then you would think my father would remember this as a miracle, wouldn't you? As if, who knows, he had taken some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five, he got married and totally forgot Athena. He took a “normal” mortal wife and had two “normal” mortal children, and tried to pretend I didn't exist.

"And then she ran away," Demeter guessed.

I looked out the train window. The lights of a sleeping city were passing. I wanted to make Annabeth feel better, but I didn't know how.  
"My mom married a guy who was too horrible," I told her. - Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Who knows, maybe your father wasn't thinking about it?  
Annabeth remained focused on her necklace. He tightened the gold graduation ring that was hanging between the beads. It occurred to me that the ring must have belonged to her father. I wondered why she used it if she hated it so much.  
"He doesn't care about me," she said. - His wife ... my stepmother ... treated me like a freak. She was going to let me play with her kids. My father agreed. Whenever something dangerous happened ... you know, something to do with monsters ... they both looked at me angrily, like "How dare you put our family in danger". In the end, I understood the hint. I was not wanted. I ran away.  
\- How old were you?  
\- The same age I started the camp. Seven.  
\- But ... you wouldn't be able to reach Half-Blood Hill alone.  
\- No, not alone. Athena protected me, guided me towards help. I made unexpected friends who took care of me, well, for a little while.  
I wanted to ask what had happened, but Annabeth seemed lost in sad memories. Then I heard the sound of Grover's snoring and stared out the train windows as the dark fields of Ohio passed.  
Towards the end of our second day on the train, on June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, we passed some golden hills and the Mississippi River, and entered St. Louis.  
Annabeth craned her neck to see the Portal in Arco, which seemed to me like a huge shopping bag handle stuck in the city.  
"I want to do that," she sighed.  
\- What? - I asked.  
\- Build something like that. Have you seen Parthenon, Percy?  
\- Only in photos.  
\- Someday I'll see you in person. I will build the biggest monument to the gods that has ever been made. Something that will last a thousand years.

"I don't doubt it," said Persephone.

I laughed.  
\- You? An architect?  
I don't know why, but I thought it was funny: the idea of Annabeth trying to sit silently drawing all day.  
Her cheeks flushed.  
\- Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just bring them down, like a certain earthquake god.  
I watched the brown, turbulent waters of the Mississippi below.  
"Sorry," said Annabeth. - That was mean.  
\- Can't we work together? - begged. - I mean, Athena and Poseidon couldn't collaborate with each other?  
Annabeth had to think about it.  
"I think ... the carriage," she said hesitantly. - My mother invented it, but Poseidon created the horses out of the wave crests. So they had to work together to make it complete.  
\- So we can also collaborate with each other. Right?  
We entered the city. Annabeth watched as the Arc disappeared behind a hotel.  
"I think so," he said at last.  
We enter the railway station in the city center. The speaker warned us that we would have a three-hour stop before leaving for Denver.  
Grover stretched. Still waking up, he said:  
\- Food.  
"Come on, goat boy," said Annabeth. - Take a walk.  
\- Tour?  
"Even the Portal in Arco," she said. - It may be my only chance to climb to the top. Are you coming or not?  
Grover and I looked at each other.  
I wanted to say no, but I concluded that if Annabeth went, we couldn't leave her alone.  
\- As long as there is a diner without monsters.  
The Arch was about a mile and a half from the station. At the end of the day, the lines to get in were not that long.  
We proceeded cautiously through the underground museum, looking at covered cars and other nineteenth-century scraps. It wasn't that exciting, but Annabeth was telling interesting facts about how the Arch was built and Grover gave me jelly beans, so it was fine with me. But I kept looking around at the other people in the queue.  
\- Do you smell anything? I murmured to Grover.  
He took his nose out of the bag of jelly beans long enough to sniff.  
"Underground," he said, disgusted. - The air under the ground always smells like monsters. It probably doesn't mean anything.  
But I had a feeling that something was wrong. I had a feeling we shouldn't be there.  
\- Guys - I said - do you know the symbols of power of the gods?  
Annabeth was in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the Arch, but she took a look.  
\- Yes?  
\- Well, Hades ...  
Grover cleared his throat.  
\- We are in a public place ... You mean, our friend downstairs?  
"Uh, right," I said. - Our friend from downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?

-A helmet !.

"You mean the Dark Helmet," said Annabeth. - Yes, it's your symbol of power. I saw him by his seat during the winter solstice assembly.  
\- He was there? - I asked.  
She nodded.  
\- It's the only time he's allowed to visit Olympus - the darkest day of the year. But if what I heard is true, the helmet is much more powerful than my invisibility cap ...  
"Allow it to turn into darkness," confirmed Grover. - It can merge with the shadows or pass through walls. It cannot be touched or seen or heard. And it can radiate a fear so intense that it can drive you crazy, or make your heart stop beating. Why do you think all rational creatures are afraid of the dark?  
\- But then ... how do we know if he's not here right now, watching us? - I asked.  
Annabeth and Grover looked at each other.  
"We don't know," said Grover.  
"Thanks, I feel much better now," I said. - Is there any blue jujube left?  
I had almost controlled my despair when I saw the tiny elevator on which we were going to climb to the top of the Arch, and I realized I was in trouble. I hate confined spaces. They drive me crazy.

"I know how he feels, restrained, trapped. And the sea is free," explained Poseidon.

We were squeezed into the elevator along with a big, fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua wearing a fake glitter collar. I figured that maybe the Chihuahua was a guide dog, because none of the guards said a word about it.  
We started to climb inside the Arch. I had never been in an elevator that went up in a curve, and my stomach didn't like it much.  
\- Without parents? Asked the fat lady.  
He had small, round, shiny eyes; pointed and stained coffee teeth; a trilby denim hat and an over-armed denim dress. It looked like a jeans airship.  
"They're down there," said Annabeth. - They are afraid of heights.  
\- Ah, poor people.  
The Chihuahua snarled. The woman said:  
\- Come on, come on, sonny. Behave yourself. - The dog had small eyes, round and bright as the owner, intelligent and evil.  
I said:  
\- Little son. It's his name?  
\- No.

Zeus moved restlessly on the throne, he knew who it was. She served him, he should have sent her after the boy. Poseidon would be furious.

She spoke and smiled, as if that clarified everything.  
At the top of the Arch, the observation platform reminded me of a carpeted can. Rows of little windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was nice, but if there is one thing I like even less than a closed place, it is a closed place two hundred meters high.  
Annabeth went on to talk about structural supports and how she would have made the windows bigger and designed a transparent floor. She could have stayed up there for hours, but luckily the guard announced that the observation platform would be closed in a few minutes.  
I guided Grover and Annabeth towards the exit, put them in the elevator and was about to enter when I realized that there were already two other tourists inside. There was no room for me.  
The guard said:  
\- Next car, sir.  
"Let's go," said Annabeth. - We will wait with you.  
But it was going to disturb everyone and take even more time, so I said:  
\- Not alright. See you down there.  
Grover and Annabeth looked nervous, but they let the elevator door close. The car disappeared down the ramp.  
Now the only people left on the observation deck were me, a little boy with his parents, the guard and the fat lady with the Chihuahua.  
I smiled uncomfortably at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue fluttering between her teeth.  
"Time to make dust," said Apollo. Kill monsters, they turn to dust.  
-We understand. But it wasn't funny-Said Hermes

Wait a minute. Forked tongue?  
Before I could conclude whether I had actually seen that, the Chihuahua jumped on the floor and started to bark at me.  
"Come on, come on, sonny," said the lady. - Isn't it fun? We have all these nice people here.  
\- Puppy! Said the boy. - Look, a puppy!  
The parents pulled him back.  
The Chihuahua bared its teeth at me, foam dripping from its black lips.  
"Well, my son," sighed the fat lady. - If you insist.  
My stomach started to chill.  
\- Er, did you call this Chihuahua a son?  
"Chimera, dear," corrected the fat lady. - It's not a Chihuahua. It is a very common mistake.

-Chimera-Said Aphrodite-He's stuck with Chimera !.

She rolled up her denim sleeves, showing that the skin on her arms was scaly and green. When he smiled, I saw that his teeth were stuck. The pupils of the eyes were vertical slits, like those of reptiles.  
The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark it grew. First it was the size of a doberman, then a lion. The bark turned to a roar.  
The little boy screamed. The parents pulled him to the exit, right in the direction of the guard, who was paralyzed, wide-eyed at the monster.  
The Chimera was so high that its back touched the ceiling. It had the head of a lion, its mane smeared with blood, the body and hooves of a giant goat and a snake in place of its tail, three-meter-long lozenges sprouted from its furry bottom. He still had the collar of false brilliants on his neck and the plate, the size of a plate, was now easy to read: CHIMERA - ANGER, FIRE BREATH, POISONY - IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL THE TACTAR - RAMAL 954.  
I realized that I had not even removed the lid of my sword. My hands were numb. I was ten feet from Chimera's bloody mouth, and I knew that as soon as I moved the creature would invest.  
The snake woman made a hissing sound that could have been a laugh.  
\- Feel honored, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my offspring.

"First Hades, and now you brother?" Said Poseidon-Percy will prove that he and I are innocent.  
"Unless he dies before that," Zeus threatened.

For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!  
I looked at her. All I could think about was:  
\- Isn't that the name of an animal that eats ants?

-He's about to die, but he doesn't miss the joke - said Hestia laughing with pleasure.

She howled, the reptile's face turned brown and green with anger.  
\- I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Give my name to that ridiculous animal. Because of that, Percy Jackson, my son will destroy you!  
The Chimera moved forward, the lion's teeth gnashing. I managed to jump to the side and dodge the bite. I ended up with the family and the guard, who were all shouting now, trying to force open the emergency exit doors. I couldn't let them be hurt. I took off the sword cover, ran to the other side of the platform and shouted:  
\- Hey, Chihuahua!  
Chimera turned around faster than I thought possible. Before I could lift the sword, it opened its mouth, giving off a stench like that of the biggest barbecue in the world, and launched a column of flames right at me.  
I dove through the explosion. The carpet burst into flames; the heat was so intense it almost burned my eyebrows.  
The place where I was a moment ago had become a ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with molten metal smoking at the edges. That's a good one, I thought. We just soldered a national monument.  
Countercurrent was now a shiny bronze blade in my hands, and when the Chimera turned, I hit it hard in the neck.  
It was a fatal mistake. The blade sparked without effect against the dog collar. I tried to regain my balance, but I was so preoccupied with defending myself from the flaming lion's mouth that I completely forgot about the snake's tail, until it turned around and stuck its fangs in my calf.  
My entire leg burned with fire.

-The poison came in-gasped Hermes. Poseidon went pale.

I tried to shove Riptide into the Chimera's mouth, but the serpent's tail wrapped around my ankles and unbalanced me, and the sword flew out of my hand, whirled through the hole in the Arch and fell into the Mississippi River.

-The river-Said Athena-The water has healed him once, would it work?

I managed to stand, but I knew I had lost. He was unarmed. I could feel the lethal poison rising in my chest. I remembered Chiron saying that Anaklusmos would always come back to me, but there was no pen in my pocket. Perhaps he was fallen too far. Or just come back when it was in the shape of a pen. I didn't know, and I wasn't going to live long enough to find out.  
I backed up into the hole in the wall. The Chimera moved forward, snarling and whirling smoke from its lips. The snake-woman, Echidna, laughed.  
\- You no longer make heroes like you used to, huh, son?  
The monster snarled.I didn't seem to be in a hurry to finish me off, now that I was defeated.  
I took a look at the guard and the family. The little boy hid behind his father's legs. I had to protect those people. I couldn't just ... die. I tried to think, but my whole body was on fire. My head was spinning. I had no sword. He was facing an immense fire-breathing monster and his mother. And I was terrified.  
There was nowhere else to go, so I went up to the edge of the hole. Far, far below, the river glowed. Could it be that if I died the monsters would go away? Would they leave humans alone?  
\- If you are the son of Poseidon - hissed Equidna - then you are not afraid of water. Jump, Percy Jackson. Show me that water won't hurt you. Jump and retrieve the sword. Prove your lineage.

"You shouldn't underestimate him," said Hephaestus.

Yes, right, I thought. I had read somewhere that jumping into the water from a few stories up was like hitting asphalt. From there, I was going to crumble to pieces on impact.  
Chimera's mouth was red, glowing, preparing a new burst of fire.  
"You have no faith," he said to Chimera. - Don't trust the gods. I can't blame you, little coward. You better die now. The gods are unfaithful. The poison is in your heart.  
She was right: I was dying. He could feel his breath hitching. No one could save me, not even the gods.  
I stepped back and looked at the water below. I remembered the warmth of my father's smile when I was a baby. He must have seen me. You must have visited me when I was in the crib.  
I remembered the green trident that had appeared whirling above my head the night the flag was captured, when Poseidon recognized me as his son. But that was not the sea. That was Mississippi, right in the middle of the United States. There was no God of the sea there.  
"Die, unfaithful," said Echidna's hoarse voice, and Chimera sent a column of fire toward my face.  
"Dad, help me," I begged.

-I'll always help you.

I turned and jumped. My clothes on fire, the poison running through my veins, I dove into the river.


	16. Chapter 14

\- I become a known fugitive-Leu Zeus.-It was taking long, with my face printed in the newspapers, everyone looking for him.

I would love to tell you that I had some profound revelation as I fell, that I learned to accept my own mortality, that I laughed in the face of death, etc.

\- "I laugh in the face of danger" -Hades said.

The truth? My only thought was: Aaaaarggghhhh!

"It's the thought of many," said Hermes, laughing.

The river came towards me at truck speed. The wind took the breath out of my lungs. Towers, skyscrapers and bridges swirled in and out of sight. And then...  
Wow!

"Dramatic boy," said Apollo without believing.

A swirl of bubbles. I sank into the darkness, certain that I would end up swallowing by thirty meters of mud and lost forever. But my impact with the water didn't hurt. I was now descending slowly, with bubbles passing between my fingers. I ended up at the bottom of the river, in silence. A catfish the size of my stepfather walked away with a turn into the darkness.  
Clouds of sludge and disgusting garbage - beer bottles, old shoes, plastic bags - swirled around me.

Poseidon was upset by the paragraph, he felt dirty too.  
-How could they have done that? The humans? Does this world still have a way? - Said the god of the seas. - I feel like I'm in ruins.

At that point I realized some things. First, I hadn't been flattened like a pancake. It had not been roasted as a barbecue. I didn't even feel the Chimera poison boiling in my veins. I was alive, which was a good thing. Second: I was not wet. I mean, I could feel the coolness of the water. I could see where the fire in my clothes had been put out. But when I touched my shirt, it looked perfectly dry.  
I looked at the floating garbage and grabbed an old lighter. No way, I thought. I crossed out the lighter. A spark popped. A tiny flame appeared, right there, at the bottom of the Mississippi.  
I grabbed a hamburger-soaked package from the chain and the paper dried immediately. I burned it without problems. As soon as I released him, the flames flickered and went out. The packaging turned into a viscous rag again.

Weird. But the strangest idea came to me last: I was breathing. He was under water and breathed normally. I stood up, sunk to my thighs in the mud. Her legs were shaking. Her hands were shaking. I should be dead. The fact that he wasn't there seemed ... well, a miracle. I imagined  
a woman's voice, a voice that sounded a bit like my mother's: Percy, how do you say?  
\- Uh ... thank you very much. - Under water, my voice sounded like recording, identical to that of a much older boy. - Thank you very much ... Dad.

No answer. Just the dark flow of garbage down the river, the huge catfish that glided by, the glow of the setting sun on the surface of the water far above, leaving everything the color of dulce de leche.  
Why had Poseidon saved me?

-Why wouldn't I save you? -Poseidon said without understanding.

The more I thought about it, the more embarrassed I felt. So, I had been lucky a few times. Against something like Chimera, I didn't stand a chance. Those poor people at the Arco had probably become toast. I was unable to protect them. He was no hero. Maybe I should just stay down here with the catfish, join the diners at the bottom of the river.  
Plof-plof-plof. The blades of a boat's propeller stirred the water over me, turning the mud around.  
There, no more than five meters ahead, was my sword, the bronze guard shining, stuck in the mud. I heard that woman's voice again: Percy, take the sword. Your father believes in you.  
This time I realized that the voice was not in my head. I was not imagining it. The words seemed to come from everywhere, rippling through the water like a dolphin's sonar.  
\- Where are you? I asked out loud.  
Then, in the shadows, I saw her - a woman the color of water, a ghost in the current, floating just above the sword. He had long wavy hair, and his eyes, barely visible, were green like mine.  
A lump formed in my throat.  
\- Mom?

-He misses her so much! -Aphrodite said -One of the most beautiful loves, that of a mother and her son.

No, child, just a messenger, although your mother's fate is not as inevitable as you believe. Go to the beach in Santa Monica.  
\- What?  
It is your father's will. Before going down to the Underworld, you must go to Santa Monica.

-What will he do in Santa Monica?

Please, Percy, I can't stay here long. The river is too dirty for my presence.  
\- But ... - I wasn't sure if the woman was my mother or, well, a vision of her. - Who ... like you ...  
There was a lot that I wanted to ask, the words lumped in my throat.  
I can't stay, my brave one, said the woman. She held out her hand, and I felt the chain brush my face like a caress. You need to go to Santa Monica! And, Percy, watch out for presents ...  
Her voice was gone.  
\- Gifts? - I asked. - What gifts? Wait!  
She tried to speak again, but the sound was gone. His image fell apart. If it was my mother, I had lost her again. I felt like drowning. The only problem: I was immune to that.

-Part annoying, to be your son-Said Dionísio.

Your father believes in you, she said.  
She also called me brave ... unless she was talking to the catfish.

-Sure. Because his name is also Percy, ”said Hades sarcastically.

I dragged myself to Riptide and grabbed her by the guard. Chimera could still be up there with her fat, venomous mother, waiting to finish me off. At best, the deadly police would be arriving, trying to find out who had opened a hole in the Arch. If they found me, they would have some questions to ask. I put the cap on the sword and stuffed the ballpoint pen in my pocket.  
"Thank you very much, Father," he said again to the dark water. Then I pushed upward through the dirt and swam to the surface.  
I emerged next to a floating McDonald’s.  
A block away, all St. Louis emergency vehicles surrounded the Arch. Police helicopters circled overhead. The crowd of onlookers reminded me of Times Square on New Year's Day.  
A little girl said:  
\- Mom! That boy walked out of the river.  
"Good, honey," said the mother, craning her neck to see the ambulances.  
\- But he's dry!  
\- Good, honey.

-Poor thing! -Athena said-Another mortal who sees through the fog. She will think she is crazy.

A reporter was speaking to the camera:  
“Everything leads us to believe, as far as we know, that this is not a terrorist attack, but the investigations are still very early. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. We are trying to gain access to some survivors to question them about testimonies that someone fell from the Arch. ”  
Survivors. I felt a wave of relief. The guard and family had escaped unscathed. I hoped Annabeth and Grover would be fine.  
I tried to make my way through the crowd to see what was going on after the police barrier.  
"... a teenager", another report was saying. “Channel 5 learned that surveillance cameras show a maddened teenager on the observation deck, somehow detonating that strange explosion.

-Santa Mist. They think he caused the explosion, and alone-exclaimed Demeter.

It's hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Once again, there is no confirmed fatality ... ”  
I backed up, trying to keep my head down. He had to take a huge turn to get around the police perimeter. There were police and reporters everywhere.  
He was almost losing hope of meeting Annabeth and Grover when a familiar voice bleated:  
\- Perrr-cy!  
I turned and found Grover's bear hug - or goat hug. He said:  
\- We thought you went to Hades the worst way!  
Annabeth was behind him, trying to look angry, but even she seemed relieved to see me.  
\- We can't leave you five minutes alone! What happened?  
\- It was like a tumble.  
\- Percy! One hundred and ninety-two meters?  
Behind us, a policeman shouted:  
\- Make way! The crowd split and a pair of paramedics came forward pushing a woman on a stretcher. I recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy on the platform. She said:  
\- And then that huge dog, that huge chihuahua spitting fire ...

-She sees through the fog too, they are rare mortals like that - Said Hephaestus.

"Okay, ma'am," said the paramedic. - Calm down please. Your family is fine. The drug is starting to take effect.  
\- I'm not crazy! That boy jumped through the hole and the monster disappeared.

-Is he gone? Did you just leave? This is not like them - said Nemesis - We have a lot to understand in this book.

Then she saw me.  
\- There he is! It's that boy!  
I turned quickly and pulled Annabeth and Grover after me. We disappear into the crowd.  
\- What is happening? Asked Annabeth. - Was she talking about the elevator chihuahua?  
I told them the whole story of Chimera, Echidna, my diving show and the message from the girl under the water.  
"Wow," said Grover. - We have to take him to Santa Monica! You cannot ignore an order from your father.  
Before Annabeth could answer, we passed another reporter who was recording a newsletter, and I was almost paralyzed when he said:  
\- Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel 12 learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by the authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boy is believed to be traveling west. For our home viewers, this is Percy Jackson's photo.  
We ducked behind the news car and slipped into an alley  
"First and foremost," he said to Grover. - We have to get out of town!  
Somehow we managed to get back to the train station without being seen. We boarded the train just as we were leaving for Denver. The train drove west as night fell, with police lights still flashing against the silhouette of St. Louis behind us.

-How will they complete the mission, if they can't walk in the city right ?.


	17. Chapter 15

\- A god buys cheeseburgers for us-Said Hestia-Are you Poseidon ?.

The following afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train entered Denver. We hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. We hadn't showered since we left Half-Blood Hill, and I was sure that was obvious.

-If they were my daughters on a mission -Aphrodite said-This would not have happened, they have heard of perfume, mineral salts, once they carry weapons, they should carry quite a lot of beauty. A woman is nothing without lipstick.

"Let's try to get in touch with Chiron," said Annabeth. - I want to tell him about your conversation with the spirit of the river.

\- We can't use phones, right?  
\- I'm not talking about phones.

-Message from Iris !.

We wandered around the city center for about half an hour, although I didn't quite know what Annabeth was looking for. The air was dry and warm, which was strange after the humidity in St. Louis. Wherever we went, the Rockies seemed to be looking at me, like a tsunami about to break over the city.  
We finally found an empty car wash. We went to boxing further away from the street, watching for police cars. We were three teenagers without a car in a car wash; any self-respecting police officer would deduce that we were not up to anything good.  
\- What exactly are we doing? I asked when Grover took the hose from a compressor.  
"It's seventy-five cents," he muttered. Only two twenty-five coins are restored to me. Annabeth?  
"Don't look at me," she said. - The dining car left me smooth.  
I fished out my last bit of change and passed a twenty-five cent coin to Grover, which left me with five and a medusa drachma.

"Excellent," said Grover. - We could do this with any spray, of course, but the connection is not good, and my arms get tired of pumping so much.  
\- What you mean?  
He deposited the coins and set the button to ESGUICHO FINO.  
\- M. I.  
\- Instant message?  
"Message from Iris," corrected Annabeth. - The rainbow goddess transmits messages to the gods. If we know how to ask, and she is not too busy, she will do the same for half-bloods.  
\- Do you summon the goddess with a compressor?  
Grover pointed the nozzle of the hose into the air and water sizzled in a thick white mist.  
\- Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow.  
In fact, the late afternoon light filtered through the fog and decomposed into colors.  
Annabeth held out her palm to me.  
\- Drachma, please.  
I handed it over.  
She raised the coin over her head.  
\- O goddess, accept our offering.  
He threw the drachma at the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden flicker.  
"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth asked.  
For a moment, nothing happened. And then I was looking through the fog at strawberry fields and the Long Island Strait in the distance. It was as if we were on the balcony of Casa Grande. Standing with his back to us by the fence was a sand-colored guy in shorts and an orange tank top. He held a bronze sword and seemed to be looking intently at something in the meadow.  
\- Luke! - I called.  
He turned, eyes wide. I could have sworn he was in front of me, three feet away, behind a curtain of mist, only that I saw only the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.  
\- Percy! His scarred face broke into a smile. - And Annabeth too? Thanks to the gods! Are you okay?  
"We are ... uh ... great," stammered Annabeth. She was desperately trying to smooth out the dirty T-shirt and get her hair down in front of her face. - We thought ... Chiron ... I mean ...  
\- He's down there in the cottages. Luke's smile faded. We are having some problems with the campers. Listen, is everything okay with you? Is Grover okay?  
"I'm right here," shouted Grover. He turned the splash to one side and entered Luke's field of vision. - What kind of problems?  
Just then, a large Lincoln Continental entered the car wash with the radio playing hip-hop on the last volume.  
When the car entered the box next door, the speakers vibrated so much that they shook the pavement.  
\- Chiron had to ... what is that noise? shouted Luke.  
\- Let me take care of that! cried Annabeth, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight. - Grover, come!  
\- What? said Grover. - But ...  
\- Give Percy the hose and come! she ordered.  
Grover mumbled something about girls being more difficult to understand than the Oracle of Delphi

-In that I agree-Apollo said.

then he handed me the hose and followed Annabeth.  
I readjusted the splash to keep the rainbow and still see Luke.  
"Chiron had to break up a fight," shouted Luke, louder than music. - The situation is a little tense here. The impasse issue between Zeus and Poseidon has leaked.  
We still don't really know how ... it was probably the same disgusting guy who summoned the hellhound. Now campers are starting to take sides. Things are getting like the Trojan War, all over again. Aphrodite, Ares and Apollo are in some ways supporting Poseidon.

-You are my son-Said Zeus-Pelo Estige Apolo !.

-Athena is supporting Zeus.  
I shuddered to think that Clarisse's cottage might be on my father's side for something. In the box next door, I heard Annabeth and some guy arguing, and then the volume of the music dropped dramatically.  
\- So, what's your situation? - Asked Luke to me. - Chiron will be very sorry for not being able to talk to you.  
I told him practically everything, including my dreams. It felt so good to see him, that I was back in camp, even for a few minutes, that I didn't realize how long I had spoken until the compressor alarm went off. I saw that I only had one more minute before the water turned off.  
"I wish I could be there," said Luke. - We can't help much from here, unfortunately, but listen ... surely it was Hades who got the master ray. He was there at Olympus winter solstice. I was supervising an excursion and we saw him.  
\- But Chiron said that the gods cannot directly take each other's magic items.  
"It's true," said Luke, looking troubled. - Still ... Hades has the helmet of darkness. How could anyone else sneak into the throne room and steal the master ray? You have to be invisible.

-He did not insult it -Athena said -The son said that the father is the patron of thieves.

We were both silent until Luke seemed to realize what he had said.  
"Hey," he protested. - I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other for an eternity. She would never ... I mean, she is like a sister to me.

-But she wants something more-Said Hermes-Don't just want to be "sister".

I wondered if Annabeth would like that description. In the next box, the music stopped. A man screamed in terror, car doors slammed and Lincoln burst out of the car wash.  
"You'd better go see what that was," said Luke. - Listen, are you wearing flying shoes? I would feel better if I knew you were served something.  
\- Ah ... uh, yes! -I tried not to sound like looking like a guilty liar. - Yes, they were useful.  
\- Really? - He smiled. - Did they serve and everything?  
The water stopped. The fog began to disperse.  
"Well, take care of yourself there in Denver," shouted Luke, his voice getting quieter. - And tell Grover that this time will be better! No one will be turned into a pine tree if he just ...  
But the fog was gone, and Luke's image was gone. I was alone in a wet, empty car wash.  
Annabeth and Grover appeared in the corner, laughing, but stopped when they saw my face.  
Annabeth's smile faded.  
\- What happened, Percy? What did Luke say?  
"Almost nothing," I lied, feeling my stomach as empty as a Big Three cottage. - Come on, let's go find something for dinner.  
A few minutes later, we were seated in a booth in a small, shiny chrome restaurant. Around us, families ate hamburgers and drank beer and soft drinks. Finally, the waitress came. She raised a skeptical eyebrow.  
\- Then?  
I said:  
\- We, uh, want to order dinner.  
\- Do you have money to pay, children?  
Grover's lower lip trembled. I was afraid that he would start bleating, or, worse, start eating linoleum. Annabeth looked like she was about to pass out from hunger.  
I was trying to think of a moving story for the waitress when a loud snore shook the entire building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.

The gods looked at each other, if it wasn't Poseidon, then who?

All conversations ceased. The motorcycle headlight glowed red. It had flames painted over the gas tank and a holster on each side, with hunting rifles. The seat was leather - but leather that looked ... well, human skin, Caucasian.  
The guy on the bike could make professional fighters run out and call mom. He wore a tight red T-shirt that stood out from the muscles, black jeans and a long black leather jacket with a hunting machete attached to his thigh. He wore red sunglasses stuck to the back of his neck, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face I had ever seen - good-looking, I think, but bad, with oil-black hair trimmed by the machine, his face scarred by many scars , many fights.

"What are you doing there, Ares?" Hades asked. "They are not your children, and you don't usually help heroes."

The strange thing was that it looked like I had already seen that man somewhere.  
When he entered the restaurant, a hot, dry wind blew into the room. They all got up, as if hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they sat down again. Everyone went back to their conversations.  
The waitress blinked, as if someone had pressed the back button on her brain. She asked again:  
\- Do you have money to pay, children?  
The guy on the bike said:  
\- It's on me. He slipped into our booth, too small for him, and squeezed Annabeth against the window.  
He looked at the waitress, who was looking at him with wide eyes, and said:  
\- Are you still there?  
He pointed at her, and she went rigid. She turned as if someone had turned it and marched back to the kitchen.  
The man on the motorcycle looked at me. I couldn't see his eyes behind the red glasses, but bad feelings started to boil in my stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness. I wanted to hit the wall. I wanted to pick a fight with someone. Who did that guy think he was?  
He gave me a mean smile.  
\- So you're the boy from the Old Seaweed, huh?  
I should have been surprised, or scared, but instead it was like looking at my stepfather, Gabe. I wanted to take the guy's head off:  
\- What do you have with that?  
Annabeth's eyes sent me a warning.  
\- Percy, this is ...  
"Okay," he said. - I don't mind a little petulance. As long as you remember who's boss. Do you know who I am, cousin?  
Then it came to my mind because the guy looked familiar. He had the same cruel look as some children in Camp Half-Blood, those in Cottage 5.  
"You are Clarisse's father," I said. - Ares, god of war.  
Ares grinned and took off his glasses. Where the eyes were supposed to be, there was only fire, empty orbits glowing with nuclear mini-explosions.  
\- Okay, bitch. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear.  
\- She was asking for that.  
\- Probably. Quiet. I don't get involved in my children's fights, you know? I'm here because I heard you were in town. I have a small proposal for you

\- What do you want with him? - You want to know Poseidon.

The waitress came back with trays full of food - cheeseburgers, fries, breaded onion rings and chocolate milkshakes.  
Ares handed him some gold drachmas.  
She looked nervously at the coins.  
\- But these are not ...  
Ares pulled out his huge machete and started cleaning his nails.  
\- Is there a problem, baby?  
The waitress swallowed and walked away with the gold.  
"You can't do that," he said to Ares. - You can't threaten people with a knife.  
Ares laughed.  
\- Is playing? I love this country. Best place, after Sparta. Aren't you armed, sucker? It should. The world outside is dangerous. Which brings me back to my proposal. I need you to do me a favor.  
\- What favor could I do for a god?  
\- Something that a god doesn't have time to do himself. Nothing more. I dropped my shield in an abandoned water park here in the city. I was in the middle of a ... meeting with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left the shield behind. I want you to go get it for me.  
"What are you up to?" Said Hermes.  
Ares and Aphrodite looked at each other.

\- Why don't you go back and get it yourself?  
The fire in his sockets became a little more incandescent.  
\- Why don't I turn you into a groundhog and run him over with my Harley? Because I'm not in the mood. A god is giving you the opportunity to test yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you show that you are a coward? - He leaned forward. - Or, who knows, you only fight when there is a river to dive in, so that your dad can protect you?  
I wanted to punch that guy, but somehow I knew he was waiting for it. Ares' power was causing my anger. He would love it if I attacked him. I didn't want to give you that taste.  
"We are not interested," I said. - We already have a mission.  
Ares's fiery eyes made me see things I didn't want - blood, smoke and bodies on the battlefield.  
\- I know everything about your mission, you worthless. When that item was stolen, Zeus sent his best to look for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis and, of course, me. If I couldn't smell a weapon so powerful ... - He licked his lip, as if the very idea of the master ray had left him hungry. - Well ... if I couldn't find you, you have no chance. However, I am trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your father and I have known each other for a long time. After all, I was the one who told you my suspicions about the old corpse breath.  
"Did you tell him that Hades stole the lightning?"  
\- Sure. Set the mood for war on. The oldest trick of all.

\- Because of you we are fighting. Pitted us against each other, ”said Zeus.  
-Just gave a little push, the rest was you-Said Ares evil.

I recognized him immediately. In a way, you have to thank me for your little mission.  
"Thank you," I mumbled.  
\- Hey, I'm a generous guy. Do my little job and I will help you on your journey. I will arrange a ride west for you and your friends.  
\- We're doing great alone.  
\- Yes right. Without money. Without wheels. With no clue what they will face. Help me, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mother.  
\- My mom?

"Low strike," Persephone said.

He smiled.  
\- That caught your attention. The water park is one and a half kilometers to the west, on Delancy. There is no mistake. Look for the Tunnel of Love.  
\- What interrupted your relationship? - I asked. - Did something startle you?  
Ares bared his teeth, but I had seen that threatening face before, in Clarisse. There was something uncertain about her, almost nervousness.  
\- You are lucky to have found me, worthless, and not one of the Olympians. They are not as lenient with rudeness as I am. I'll find you here again when I'm done. Don't let me down.  
After that I must have passed out, or gone into a trance, because when I opened my eyes again Ares was gone. I might have thought the whole conversation was a dream, but Annabeth and Grover's expression told me otherwise.  
"Not good," said Grover. - Ares looked for you, Percy. This is not good.  
I looked out the window. The motorcycle was gone.  
Did Ares really know anything about my mom, or was he just playing games with me? Now that he was gone, all my anger was gone. I realized that Ares must love to mess up people's emotions. That was their power - to exacerbate the passions so much that they hindered our ability to think.  
"It must be some kind of trick," I said. - Forget Ares. Let's go and go.  
"We can't," said Annabeth. "Look, I hate Ares as much as anyone, but you can't ignore the gods unless you want tremendous bad luck." He wasn't kidding about turning you into a rodent.  
I looked down at my cheeseburger, which suddenly didn't seem so appetizing anymore.  
\- Why does he need us?  
"Maybe it's a problem that requires intelligence," said Annabeth. - Ares has strength. It's all you have. Even to the greatest of strengths, sometimes one has to bow to wisdom.

\- Let's see girl! - Said the god of war.

\- But this water park ... he acted almost like he was terrified. What would make a war god escape like that?  
Annabeth and Grover looked at each other nervously.  
Annabeth said:  
\- I think we'll have to find out.  
When we found the water park, the sun was setting behind the mountains. Judging by the sign, it had once been called AQUALÂNDIA, but now some letters had been torn out, so it said AQU L D A.  
The main gate was padlocked and had barbed wire on top. Inside, huge slides, tubes and pipes twisted everywhere, dry, ending up in empty pools. Old tickets and leaflets rose from the asphalt in the wind. With the night coming, the place looked sad and chilling.  
"If Ares brings his girlfriend here on a date," I said, looking at the barbed wire, "I wouldn't like to see how she looks."  
"Percy," Annabeth warned, "have more respect.  
\- Why? I thought you hated Ares.  
\- Still, he's a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental.  
"We don't want to offend you," added Grover.  
\- Who is it? Echidna?  
"No, Aphrodite," said Grover, a little dreamily. - The goddess of love.

"Are they still together?" Demeter said.

"I thought she was married to someone," I said. - Hephaestus.  
\- And? he asked.  
\- Ah. - Suddenly, I felt that it was necessary to change the subject

-Our family is a bit complicated, said Artemis-Our concepts are not the same as mortals.

. - So, how do we get in?  
\- Maia! - Grover's sneakers created wings.  
He flew over the fence, took an involuntary mortal in the air, then landed staggering on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he had planned all this.  
\- You come?  
Annabeth and I had to climb the old-fashioned way, pushing the barbed wire towards each other as we crawled over the top.  
The shadows stretched as we walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was Ilha dos Pequeninos, the Above the Head and the Guy, Where's My Shorts? No monsters came to catch us. Nothing made the slightest noise.  
We found a gift shop that had been left open. There were still goods lined up on the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and shelves of ...  
"Clothes," said Annabeth. - Clean clothes.  
\- Yeah, - I added. - But you can't just ...  
\- Watch.  
She grabbed an entire row of items from the shelves and disappeared into the dressing room. A few minutes later, he went out wearing shorts printed from Aqualândia, a big red T-shirt from Aqualândia and surfing shoes from Aqualândia. On her shoulder, an Aqualândia backpack, obviously stuffed with other little things.  
\- Damn it. Grover shrugged.  
Soon the three of us looked like traveling ads for the ghost theme park.  
We keep looking for the Tunnel of Love.I had a feeling that the entire park was holding its breath.  
"So Ares and Aphrodite," I said, just to ward off thoughts of the growing darkness, "are you having an affair?"  
"It's old gossip, Percy," said Annabeth, "three thousand years old gossip.  
\- And Aphrodite's husband?  
"Well, you know," she said. - Hephaestus. The blacksmith was crippled as a baby, thrown from Mount Olympus by Zeus. So it's not exactly beautiful. Skilled with his hands and all, but Aphrodite doesn't like intelligence and talent, you know?  
\- She likes bikers.

"Nothing personal, Hephaestus," said the goddess.

\- Or that.  
\- Does Hephaestus know?  
"Oh, absolutely," said Annabeth. - Once he caught them together. I mean, he took it, in a gold chain, and called all the gods to see and laugh at their faces.

-You have not seen anything-said Hephaestus-One day I will take you, and without escape.

Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they find themselves in hidden places, like ...  
She broke off, looking ahead.  
\- Like that.  
In front of us was an empty pool that would have been great to skate. It was at least fifty meters wide and shaped like a basin.  
Around the edge, a dozen Cupid statues stood guard with open wings and bows ready to fire. On the other side a tunnel opened, probably where the water drained when the pool was full. The sign above him said: EXCITING LOVE RIDE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS 'LOVE TUNNEL!  
Grover crawled to the edge.  
\- Guys, look.  
Abandoned at the bottom of the pool was a pink and white two-seater, with little hearts painted all over it. On the left seat, shining in the pale light, was Ares's shield, a polished bronze circle.  
"Too easy," I said. - So just go down there and get it?  
Annabeth ran her fingers over the base of the nearest Cupid statue.  
"There is a Greek letter carved here," she said. - Eta. I suppose...

-This is H-Said Persephone-H of Hephaestus perhaps. Percy said it, too easy. I bet you knew that, Hephaestus had something behind-Ares looked at her with open mouth-I'm not just the goddess of plants.

"Grover," I said, "do you smell any monsters?"  
He sniffed the wind.  
\- Anything.  
\- Nothing like no-Arco-you-did-not-smell-the-echidna or really nothing?  
Grover looked offended.  
\- I told you, that was underground.  
\- Okay, sorry. - I took a deep breath. - I'll go down there.  
\- I will go with you. - Grover did not seem very enthusiastic, but I had the impression that he was trying to make up for what had happened in St. Louis.  
"No," I told him. - I want you to stay on top with flying sneakers. You're our aviation ace, remember? I will count on you to support me in case anything goes wrong.  
Grover puffed out his chest a little.  
\- Sure. But what could go wrong?  
\- Do not know. Just a sensation. Annabeth, come with me ...  
\- Is playing? - She looked at me as if I had just fallen from the Moon.  
Her cheeks were a bright red.  
\- What's the matter now? - I asked.  
\- I ... go with you for a ... an "Exciting Love Ride"? What an embarrassing thing! What if someone sees me?

-Someone who woman? - Hecate exclaimed.

\- Who are you going to see? - But now my face was also burning. Just a girl to complicate things. "Great," I told her. - I'll do it myself, when I started down the side of the pool, she followed me mumbling about how boys always complicate things.  
We got to the boat. The shield was supported on a bench and beside it was a feminine silk scarf. I tried to imagine Aphrodite there, a couple of gods meeting in a scrapped amusement park toy. Why? Then I noticed something I hadn't seen from above: mirrors all around the edge of the pool, facing that point.  
We could see each other, no matter which direction we looked. That had to be it. While Ares and Aphrodite were making out, they could see their favorite people: themselves. I took the handkerchief. It had a pink glow, and the scent was indescribable - roses, or laurel. Something good. I smiled, a dreamer, and I was almost wiping my handkerchief when Annabeth snatched it out of my hand and stuffed it in her pocket.  
\- Oh, no, don't do that. Stay away from this love magic.  
\- What?  
\- Just take the shield, Seaweed Head, and let's get out of here.  
The moment I touched the shield, I saw that we were in trouble. My hand broke something that connected it to the windshield. A spider web, I thought, but then I looked at an invisible thread in my palm and saw that it was some kind of metallic thread, so thin it was almost invisible. A trap.  
"Wait," said Annabeth.  
\- Too late.  
\- There is another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another eta. It is a trap.  
A noise erupted around us, a million gears creaking, as if the entire pool was turning into a giant machine.  
"Wait," said Annabeth.  
\- Too late.  
\- There is another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another eta. It is a trap.  
A noise erupted around us, a million gears creaking, as if the entire pool was turning into a giant machine.  
Grover shouted:  
\- People!  
Up there on the edge, Cupid's statues set up the arches, before I could suggest that we bend down, they fired, but not at us. They fired at each other, crossing the pool. Silk handles were carried by the arrows, making an arc over the pool and digging into the ground to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads began to magically weave through the main ones, forming a network.

-Great job Hephaestus. Too bad they noticed before-Said Poseidon, referring to Ares and Aphrodite

"We have to get out," I said.  
\- Oh, really? said Annabeth.  
I grabbed the shield and ran, but going up the slope of the pool was not as easy as going down.  
\- Come on! shouted Grover.  
He was trying to keep a section of the hammock open for us, but wherever he touched it, the golden threads started to wrap around his hands.  
The Cupids' heads snapped open. From there, video cameras came out. Lights went up all around the pool, blinding us with clarity, and a loudspeaker sounded:  
\- Live for Olympus in a minute ... Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight ...  
\- Hephaestus! cried Annabeth. - How stupid I am! Eta is "H". He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like complete idiots!  
We were almost making it to the edge when the row of mirrors opened up like hatches and thousands of ... little metallic things gushed out.  
Annabeth shouted.  
It was an army of rope crawling animals: body of bronze gears, long, thin legs, mouths in small tongs, all running towards us in a wave of popping and buzzing.

"Spiders," whispered Athena, pale.

\- Spiders! said Annabeth. - Air ... air ... aaaaaaaah!  
I had never seen her like that. She fell back, terrified and almost surrendered to the robot spiders before I pulled her up and dragged her back towards the boat.  
Those things came from all sides, millions of them, flooding the center of the pool, completely surrounding us. I told myself that they weren't programmed to kill, just to corner us, bite us and make us look like idiots. But, on the other hand, it was a trap for gods. And we were not gods.  
Annabeth and I climbed into the boat. I started kicking the spiders away when they accumulated on board. I shouted for Annabeth to help me, but she was too paralyzed to do anything but scream.  
"Thirty, twenty-nine," announced the speaker.  
The spiders started spitting metal wires, trying to tie us up. At first the threads were easy to break, but there were many of them, and the spiders just kept coming. I kicked one out of Annabeth's leg, and her clamps tore off a piece of my new surfer shoe.  
Grover hovered above the pool in his flying sneakers, trying to loosen the net, but it wouldn't budge.  
Think, I told myself, think.  
The entrance to the Tunnel of Love was under the net. We could use it as an exit, but it was blocked by a million robot spiders.  
"Fifteen, fourteen," announced the speaker. Water, I thought. Where does the water come from for the ride?  
Then I saw: huge pipes behind the mirrors, where the spiders had come from. And above the hammock, next to one of the Cupids, a booth with glass windows that must have been the control station.  
\- Grover! I shouted. - Get in that cabin! Find the call button!  
\- But ...  
\- Do it! - It was a crazy hope, but it was our only chance. The spiders were already all over the bow of the boat, Annabeth screamed over and over. I had to get us out of there.  
Grover was now in the control booth, working out the buttons.  
\- Five, four ...  
He looked at me helplessly, raising his hands. He was signaling that he had already pushed all the buttons, but nothing was happening.  
I closed my eyes and thought of waves, running water, in Mississippi. I felt a familiar tightening in my throat. I tried to imagine that I was dragging the ocean to Denver.  
\- Two, one, zero!  
The water exploded out of the pipes. He roared into the pool, sweeping the spiders away. I pulled Annabeth next to mine and fastened her seat belt just as the giant wave hit the boat, from above, expelling the spiders and soaking us completely, but without turning the boat over. It spun, lifted by the flood, and circled the whirlpool.  
The water was full of spiders short-circuited, some crashing against the concrete wall of the pool with such force that they exploded.  
The lights shone on us. The Cupids' cameras were broadcasting live to Olympus.

"I bet we love to see that," said Apollo.

But I could only concentrate on controlling the boat. I wished he would follow the current, stay away from the wall. Perhaps it was my imagination, but the boat seemed to react. At least it didn't break into a million pieces. We circled one last time, and the water level was almost enough to cut us up against the metal mesh. Then the boat's nose turned into the tunnel and we shot like a rocket into the darkness.  
Annabeth and I held on tightly, both screaming as the boat threw itself around curves and circled corners and dived forty-five degrees, past figures of Romeo and Juliet and lots of other Valentine's Day knickknacks. So we were out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through our hair as the boat sped towards the exit.  
If the toy had been in perfect working order, we would have navigated a ramp between the Golden Gates of Love and landed safely in the exit pool. But there was a problem. The Gates of Love were closed with chains. Two boats that had been dragged out of the tunnel before us were stacked against the barricade - one submerged and the other broken in half.

-You'll have to jump! .

"Loosen your seat belt," I called out to Annabeth.  
\- Are you crazy?  
\- Unless you want to die crushed. - I attached the Ares shield to my arm. - We'll have to jump.  
My idea was simple and insane. When the boat collided, we were going to use the force of impact as a springboard to jump over the gate. I heard of people who survived car crashes like that, launched ten or twenty meters away from the accident. With luck, we would fall into the pool.  
Annabeth seemed to understand. She shook my hand when the gates approached.  
"When I give the signal," I said.  
\- No! When I give the signal - she corrected.  
\- What?  
\- Basic physics! she shouted. - The force multiplied by the angle of the trajectory ...  
\- It's ok! I shouted. - When you give the signal!  
She hesitated ... hesitated ... and then screamed:  
\- Now!  
Crack!  
Annabeth was right. If we had jumped when I thought we should have, we would have smashed into the gates. She got the maximum boost.  
Unfortunately, it was a little bigger than we needed. Our boat was thrown on the pile and we were launched into the air, over the gate, over the pool, and towards the hard asphalt.  
Something held me from behind.  
Annabeth shouted:  
\- Aaai!  
Grover!  
In midair, he had grabbed me by the shirt, and grabbed Annabeth by the arm, and was trying to keep us from crashing to the floor, but Annabeth and I were still with all the energy of the momentum.  
\- You guys are too heavy! said Grover. - We're falling!  
We spiraled down, with Grover doing what he could to slow the fall.  
We hit a photo panel. Grover's head went right into the hole where tourists stuck their faces, pretending to be Nu-Nu, the Comrade Whale. Annabeth and I collapse on the floor, bruised but alive. Ares's shield still attached to my arm.  
After we caught our breath, Annabeth and I took Grover off the panel and thanked him for saving our lives. I looked at the Exciting Love Walk behind us. The water was going down. Our boat in pieces, smashed against the gates. A hundred meters away, in the tunnel entrance pool, Cupids were still filming. The statues had turned so that the cameras were pointed at us, the spotlights on our faces.  
\- The show is over! I shouted. - Thanks! Good evening!

-Dare-Said Hera-A problem in the future.

Cupids returned to their original positions. The lights went out. The park was again silent and in the dark, except for the faint glow of the water in the pool at the exit of Emocionante Passeio de Amor. I wondered if Olympus would be on a commercial break, and if our ratings were good.  
I hated to be provoked. He hated being deceived. And I had a lot of experience dealing with bullies who liked to do this to me. I raised the shield on my arm and turned to my friends.  
\- We need to have a little talk with Ares.

-What a fear. What can this runt do with me? -Said Ares-The peak in pieces before calling Daddy.


	18. Chapter 16

\- The trip of a zebra to Las Vegas-Leu Hades-E did not understand bulhufas of the title.  
-I stopped trying to understand a long time ago - said Athena-Precisely in "My transformation into Supreme Lord of the bathroom".

The god of war was waiting for us in the restaurant parking lot.  
"Well, well," he said. - You managed not to get killed.  
"You knew it was a trap," I said.  
Ares gave me an evil smile.  
\- I bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he caught a pair of stupid kids in the net. You looked good on TV.  
I pushed the shield at him.  
\- You're an asshole.  
Annabeth and Grover stopped breathing.

-Or he's an idiot-Said Ares-Or thinks he can face me. The kid hates me.  
-He doesn't exactly hate you, at least not yet-said Hecate-But Percy said that, you remember Gabe Cheiroso, the tough guy, of wanting to solve everything in violence.

Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like pizza dough. The shield changed its shape, becoming a bulletproof vest. He hung it on his back.

\- Do you see that truck over there? He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street. - It's your ride. It will take you straight to Los Angeles, with a stop in Vegas.  
The truck had a sign on the back, which I was only able to read because it was painted backwards, in white on black, a good combination for dyslexia: INTERNATIONAL CHARITY: ZOOLOGICAL HUMANITARIAN TRANSPORT. CAUTION: LIVE WILDLIFE

-We already know that, there is a zebra-Said Apollo.

I said:  
\- Speaks seriously!

-Ungrateful! - Said Zeus.

Ares snapped his fingers. The truck's rear door unlocked.  
\- Free ride to the west, useless. Stop complaining. And here's a little thing for doing the job.  
He lifted a blue nylon backpack from his handlebars and threw it at me.  
Inside were clean clothes for all of us, twenty dollars in cash, a bag full of gold drachmas, and a package of stuffed Oreo cookies.  
I said:  
\- I don't want your crap ...  
"Thank you, Mr. Ares," interrupted Grover, shooting me with his best red alert look. - Thank you.  
I gritted my teeth. It must have been a deadly insult to refuse something from a god, but I wanted nothing that Ares had touched. I slung the backpack over my reluctant shoulder. I knew that my anger was caused by the presence of the god of war, but I still felt a little urge to punch him in the nose. He reminded me of all the bullies I had ever faced: Nancy Bobofit, Clarisse, Gabe Cheiroso, mocking teachers - all the assholes who called me stupid at school or laughed at me when I was expelled.

I looked at the restaurant behind me, which now had only one or two customers. The waitress who had served us dinner looked nervously out the window, as if she were afraid that Ares would hurt us. She dragged the cook out of the kitchen to see. I said something to him. He nodded, held up a small disposable camera and took a picture of us.  
Good, I thought. Tomorrow we will be in the newspapers again.  
I imagined the headline: CRIMINAL OF TWELVE YEARS SPANCA INDEFENSE MOTORCYCLIST.

-Not really-said Poseidon-In the photo you will see, three children and a violent adult on a motorcycle. The fog only interferes when it is necessary, in that case it was not.

"You owe me one more thing," I said to Ares, trying to keep my voice at bay. - You promised me information about my mother.  
\- Are you sure you can handle the news? - He started the bike pedal. - She's not dead.  
The floor seemed to spin under me.  
\- What you mean?  
\- I mean she was taken by Minotauro before she died. It was turned into a golden shower, right? This is metamorphosis. Not death. She is being held prisoner.  
\- Prey. Why?  
\- You need to study war, useless thing. Hostages. You arrest someone to control someone else.  
\- Nobody is controlling me.  
He laughed.  
\- Oh no? See you around, boy.  
I clenched my fists.  
\- You are quite convinced, Mr Ares, for a guy who runs away from Cupid statues.  
Behind the sunglasses, the fire shone. I felt a hot wind in my hair.  
\- We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. The next time you're in a fight, take care of your rear.  
\- That wasn't very smart, Percy.  
\- I do not care.  
\- You don't want a god as an enemy. Especially this god.  
"Hey, guys," said Grover. - I hate to interrupt, but ...  
He pointed in the direction of the restaurant. At the checkout, the last two customers were paying their bills, two men in identical black overalls, with a white logo on the back that matched that of the INTERNATIONAL CHARITY truck.  
"If we're going to take the zoo express," said Grover, "we need to hurry."  
I didn't like it, but there was no better option. Besides, I had seen enough of Denver. We ran across the street and climbed in the back of the huge vehicle, closing the doors behind us.  
The first thing I noticed was the smell. It was like the biggest cat litter box in the world. The inside of the cart was dark until I removed Anaklusmos's lid. The blade cast a faint bronze light over a very sad scene. In a row of filthy metal cages were three of the most pathetic zoo animals I had ever seen: a zebra, an albino lion and a strange type of antelope, whose name I did not know.  
Someone had thrown a bag of turnips to the lion that he obviously did not want to eat. The zebra and antelope had each been given a styrofoam tray of hamburger meat. The zebra's mane was all tangled in chewing gum, as if someone were spitting on it in their spare time. The antelope had a stupid birthday balloon strapped to one of its horns that read PASSED OF AGE!

Poseidon and Artemis were outraged.  
-Love no longer exists-Said the goddess-Nature is moving towards the end.

Everything indicated that no one had wanted to get close enough to the lion to mess with him, but the poor man was pacing up and down on dirty blankets, in a space that was more than too small for him, panting with the muffled air of the room. cart.  
Flies buzzed around her pink eyes, and her ribs showed in the white fur.  
\- Is that charity? Shouted Grover. - Humanitarian zoo transport?  
He probably would have gone back to hit the truckers with his bamboo flutes, and I would have helped him, but just then the engine rumbled, the cart started to rattle and we were forced to sit or fall.  
We huddled in the corner on top of some moldy feed bags, trying to ignore the smell, the heat and the flies. Grover spoke to the animals in a series of goat bleats, but they just looked at him sadly. Annabeth was in favor of breaking into the cages and releasing them right there, but I argued that it wouldn't do much good until the truck stopped moving. Besides, I had a feeling that, to the lion, we might look a lot more appetizing than those turnips.  
I found a pitcher of water and replenished their bowls, then used Anaklusmos to pull the exchanged food out of the cages. I gave the lion meat and turnips to the zebra and antelope.  
Grover soothed the antelope while Annabeth used her knife to remove the balloon attached to the horn. He also thought about cutting the chewing gum from the zebra's mane, but we concluded that it would be very risky with the truck bumping. We asked Grover to promise the animals that we would help them more in the morning, and then we settle down for the night.  
Grover curled up on a bag of turnips; Annabeth opened our Oreos package and nibbled on one without much enthusiasm. I tried to get excited about the idea that we were halfway to Los Angeles. Close to our destination. It was still June 14th. The solstice would only happen on the 21st. We had plenty of time.  
On the other hand, I had no idea what to expect. The gods were playing with me. At least Hephaestus had the decency to be honest about it - he installed cameras and advertised me as entertainment. But even when there were no cameras filming, I had the feeling that my mission was being observed. I was a source of entertainment for the gods.  
"Hey," said Annabeth. - I'm sorry I freaked out there at the water park, Percy.  
\- It's all right.  
\- It's just ... - She shivered. - Spiders.  
"Because of Arachne's story," I guessed. - She was turned into a spider for challenging her mother to a weaving competition, right?  
Annabeth nodded.  
\- The children of Aracne have been avenged on the children of Athena ever since. If there is a spider a kilometer away from me, it will find me. I hate those creepy little things. Anyway, I owe you one.  
\- We are a team, remember? Besides, Grover made that fantastic flight.  
I thought he was sleeping, but he murmured from his corner:  
\- I was great, wasn't I?  
Annabeth and I laughed.  
She separated the two pieces of the stuffed cookie and gave me one.  
"In Iris's message ... did Luke really say anything?"

-Translation, "Didn't you ask about me?" - Said Aphrodite.

I chewed my cookie and thought about how to respond. The rainbow conversation had bothered me all night.  
\- Luke said you and he have known each other for a long time. He also said that Grover would not fail this time. No one would be turned into a pine tree.  
In the pale bronze light of the sword blade, it was difficult to read their expression.  
Grover let out a plaintive bleat.  
\- I should have told you the truth from the start. His voice was shaking. - I thought that if I knew what a failure I was, I wouldn't want me to come along.  
\- You were the satyr who tried to save Thalia, the daughter of Zeus.  
He nodded sadly.  
\- And the other two half-bloods that Thalia protected, those who arrived at the camp safely ... - I looked at Annabeth. - It was you and Luke, wasn't it?  
She put her cookie aside, untouched.  
“As you said, Percy, a seven-year-old half-blood wouldn't have gone far on her own. Athena guided me to help. Thalia was twelve years old. Luke, fourteen. The two had run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them. They were ... fantastic monster fighters, even without training. We traveled from Virginia to the north with no real plan, we fought off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us.  
\- I should escort Thalia to the camp - he said, sniffling - only Thalia.

-And leave two behind? - Hermes said - What would it be worth ?.

He had strict orders from Chiron: do nothing to delay the rescue. We knew Hades was after her, you see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth. I thought ... I thought I could get all three to a safe place. It was my fault that the Benevolents reached us. I was paralyzed. I was terrified on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If it had been a little faster ...  
"Stop it," said Annabeth. - Nobody blames you. Thalia didn't blame him either.  
"She sacrificed herself to save us," he said, dismayed. - I'm guilty of her death. The Crack-Hoofed Elders Council said so.  
\- Why didn't you leave two other half-bloods behind? - I said. - That's not fair.  
"Percy is right," said Annabeth. - I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. Neither does Luke. We don't care what the council says.  
Grover continued to sniff in the dark.  
\- It's my fate. I am the weakest of the satyrs, and I meet the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy

And you'll find two more. Hecate thought.

"You are not weak," Annabeth insisted. - You have more courage than any satyr I have ever met. Name another who would dare to go to the Underworld. I bet Percy is very happy that you're here now.  
She kicked me in the shin.  
\- Yes - I said, which I would have done even without the kick. - It was not by chance that you found Thalia and me, Grover. You have the biggest heart among all satyrs. You are a natural seeker. And you are the one who will find Pan.  
I heard a deep, satisfied sigh. I waited for Grover to say something, but his breathing only got harder. When the sound turned to snoring, I realized that he had fallen asleep.  
\- How does he do that? - I marveled.  
"I don't know," said Annabeth. - But it was really cool what you said to him.  
\- I was sincere.  
We traveled in silence for a few kilometers, shaking above the bags of feed. The zebra chewed a turnip. The lion licked what was left of the hamburger meat from his lips and looked at me hopefully.  
Annabeth rubbed her necklace like she was coming up with great strategies.  
"That pine bill," I said. - Is it your first year?  
She looked. I hadn't realized what I was doing.  
\- And spoke. - Every August, the councilors choose the most important event of the summer, and paint it on the accounts of that year. I took Thalia's pine, a flaming Greek trireme, a centaur dressed for a ball ... well, that was a strange summer ...  
\- And is your father's graduation ring?  
\- This is not yours ... - She broke off. - Yes. Yes, it is.  
\- You don't have to tell me.  
\- Not alright. She took a deep, unsteady breath. - My father sent it to me in a letter two summers ago. The ring was, well, his greatest memory of Athena. He wouldn't have been able to finish his PhD at Harvard without it ... It's a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to keep the ring. He apologized for being an idiot, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to go home.

-That's great, said Hestia.

\- That doesn't look so bad.  
\- Yeah, but ... the problem is that I believed him. I tried to go home that school year, but my stepmother was the same as always. He didn't want to see his children in danger from living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We fought. I couldn't stand it until winter break. I called Chiron and went straight back to Camp Half-Blood.  
\- Do you think you will try to live with your father again?  
She didn't look me in the eye.  
\- Please. I don't feel like self-harm.  
"You shouldn't give up," I said. - I should write you a letter or something.  
"Thanks for the advice," she said coldly, "but my father chose who he wants to live with." We spent a few more kilometers in silence.  
\- So, if the gods fight - I said - things will be like the War of  
Troy? Is it Athena against Poseidon?  
She leaned her head against the backpack Ares had given us and closed her eyes.  
\- I don't know what my mom will do. I just know that I will fight together with you.

Athena frowned. I didn't like this friendship

Why?  
\- Because you are my friend, Seaweed Head. Any more silly questions?  
I couldn't think of an answer to that. Fortunately, I didn't have to. Annabeth was sleeping.  
I had a hard time following her example, with Grover snoring and an albino lion staring at me, but I finally closed my eyes.  
My nightmare started like a million times before: me being forced to take a test wearing a straight jacket. All the other kids were leaving for recess, and the teacher saying, Come on, Percy. You're not stupid, are you? Take your pencil.  
So the dream took a different turn.  
I looked at the wallet next to it and saw a girl sitting, who was also wearing a straight jacket. I was my age, with unruly black hair, punk style, dark eyeliner around stormy blue eyes, and freckles on my nose. Somehow, I knew who it was. Thalia, daughter of Zeus.

"He doesn't know you, how does he know?" Nemesis said.

She struggled in the straight jacket, looked at me with anger and frustration, and fired: So, Seaweed Head? One of us needs to get out of here.  
She's right, I thought about the dream. I'm going back to that cave. I'll tell you what I think about Hades' face.  
The straight jacket dissolved and I was free. I fell across the classroom floor. The professor's voice changed until it was cold and evil, echoing from the depths of a great abyss.  
Percy Jackson said. Yes, the exchange went well, I see.  
I was again in the dark cave, with the spirits of the dead floating around me. From the well, without being seen, the monstrous thing spoke, but did not address me. The numbing power of his voice seemed to be going elsewhere.  
And he doesn't suspect anything? He asked.  
Another voice, one that I almost recognized, answered by my shoulder:  
Nothing, my lord. He's just as ignorant as the rest.  
I looked, but there was no one there. The speaker was invisible.  
Lie upon lie, the thing in the well reflected aloud. Great. Actually, my lord, said the voice beside me, the name O Cheater was very well applied to you, but was that really necessary? I could have brought what I stole directly to you ...  
You? Scoffed the monster. You have already shown your limits. I would have failed completely without my intervention.  
But, my lord ...  
Please, little servant. Our six months have paid us a lot. Zeus' ire grew. Poseidon played his most desperate card. Now we must use it against him. Soon you will have the reward you want, and your revenge. And as soon as both items are delivered to my hands ..

-Both? Is there any other than my radius ?.  
Then Hades's chip fell.  
-My helmet!  
-What?  
-My helm Zeus. They stole my helmet. So I'm after Percy, if he wanted him dead just like Thalia, he would be dead already, Fury stayed with him for a whole year and did nothing, and the three on the bus barely touched them. That's why I need him alive, and Where it is, it wasn't the lightning, it was the helmet. Somehow, I think it is with Percy.

. but wait. He is here.  
What?  
The invisible servant suddenly looked tense.  
Did you summon him, my lord?  
Do not.  
All the strength of the monster's attention was now pouring over me, paralyzing me.  
Damn your father's blood - he's too fickle, too unpredictable. The boy brought himself here.  
Impossible! Exclaimed the servant.  
For someone weak like you, perhaps, the voice growled. Then his icy strength turned back to me. So ... do you want to dream of your mission, half-blood? I will serve you.  
The scenario has changed.  
I was in a vast room with a throne, with black marble walls and bronze floors. The horrifying empty throne was made of fused human bones. Standing at the foot of the step was my mother, a statue of shimmering golden light, arms outstretched.  
I tried to move towards him, but my legs did not move. I reached out to her, only to realize that my hands had wilted to the bone. Smiling skeletons in Greek armor gathered around me, dressing me in silk robes, crowning me with laurels that smoked with Chimera poison, burning my scalp.  
The evil voice started to laugh.  
Cheers to the conquering hero!  
I woke up scared.  
Grover was shaking my shoulder.  
"The truck stopped," he said. - We think they come to check the animals.  
\- Hide! - Annabeth spoke softly.  
It was easy for her. He put on his magic cap and disappeared. Grover and I had to dive behind the bags of feed and hope to look like turnips.  
The cart doors creaked open. The sun's light and heat came in.  
\- Face! Said one of the truck drivers, waving his hand in front of his ugly nose. - I wanted to be transporting home appliances. - He climbed inside and poured some water into the animals' containers.  
\- Hot, big boy? He asked the lion, and then emptied the rest of the bucket straight into the animal's face. The lion roared with indignation.  
"Okay, okay, okay," said the man.  
Beside me, under the bags of turnips, Grover tensed. To a peace-loving herbivore, he looked absolutely bloodthirsty.   
The truck driver threw a half-crushed bag of Happy Meal at the antelope. And he grinned at the zebra:  
\- Everything up, Listradona? At least we will get rid of you at this stop. Do you like magic shows? You'll love this one. They will saw you in the middle!  
The zebra, eyes wide with fear, looked directly at me. There was no sound, but clear as day, I heard her say: Free me, sir. Please.  
I was too perplexed to react.  
There was a strong tap-tap-tap on the side of the cart.  
The trucker who was inside, with us, shouted:  
\- What do you want, Eddie?  
A voice outside - it must have been Eddie's - shouted back:  
\- Maurice? What did you say?  
\- Why are you hitting?  
Tap-tap-tap.  
From outside, Eddie shouted:  
\- Who's hitting?

-Annabeth !!.

Our guy, Maurice, rolled his eyes and went outside, cursing Eddie for being such an idiot.  
A second later, Annabeth appeared beside me. It must be she who made the knocks, to get Maurice out of the cart. She said:  
\- This transportation business shouldn't be legal.  
\- Lie? Said Grover. He paused, as if he were listening. - The lion says these guys are animal smugglers!  
It's true, said the zebra's voice inside my head.  
\- We have to free them! Said Grover. He and Annabeth looked at me, waiting for my command.  
I had heard the zebra speak, but not the lion. Why? Maybe it was more of a learning disability ... Could I only understand zebras? Then I thought: horses. What had Annabeth said about Poseidon raising horses? Would a zebra be close enough to a horse? Was that why I could understand it?  
The zebra said: Open my cage, sir. Please. I'll be fine after that.  
The zebra shot out. He turned to me and inclined his head. Thank you, sir.  
Grover raised his hands and said something to her in his goat's speech, like a blessing. The moment Maurice stuck his head out to check what the noise was inside, the zebra jumped over him into the street. There were shouts, screams and cars honking.  
We rushed to the cart doors in time to see the zebra galloping down an avenue lined with hotels, casinos and neon signs. We had just released a zebra in Las Vegas.  
Maurice and Eddie ran after her, with some policemen running after them and shouting:  
\- Hey! You need permission to do that!

"I hope you are arrested," Twisted Demeter.

"Now would be a good time to get out," said Annabeth.  
"The other animals first," said Grover.  
I cut the locks with my sword. Grover raised his hands and spoke the same goat blessing he had used for the zebra.  
"Good luck," he said to the animals. The antelope and the lion shot out of the cages and went out into the streets together.  
Some tourists shouted. Most stepped back and took pictures, probably thinking it was some kind of show from one of the casinos.  
\- Will the animals be okay? I asked Grover. - I mean, the desert and everything ...  
"Don't worry," he said. - I gave them a satyr blessing.  
\- What does it mean?  
"It means that they will reach the forest safely," he said. - They will find water, food, shade, and whatever else they need until they find a safe place to live.  
\- Why can't you say a prayer like that for us? - I asked.  
\- Only works with animals.  
"Then it would only affect Percy," said Annabeth.  
\- Hey! - I protested.  
"Just kidding," she said. - Come on. Let's get out of that filthy truck.  
We stagger out into the desert afternoon. It was forty-three degrees, easy, and we should have looked like fried tramps, but everyone was too interested in wild animals to pay much attention to us.  
We passed Monte Carlo and MGM. We passed pyramids, a pirate ship and the Statue of Liberty, which was a very small replica, but it still left me homesick.  
I didn't really know what we were looking for. Maybe just a place to escape the heat for a few minutes, find a sandwich and a glass of lemonade, come up with a new plan to get west.  
We probably entered a wrong street, as we came to a dead end, in front of the Hotel and Casino Lotus.

-Now we're screwed-said Apollo.  
Everyone knew what the casino was all about.

The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting and blinking. No one came in or out, but the shiny chrome doors were open, spreading air conditioning with the scent of flowers - a lotus flower, who knows. I had never smelled one, so I wasn't sure.  
The doorman smiled at us.  
\- Hey, kids. You look tired. Do you want to come in and sit down?  
He had learned to be suspicious, about the past week. He imagined that anyone could be a monster or a god. I couldn't tell. But that guy was normal. It was just looking. In addition, I was so relieved to hear someone who seemed friendly that I nodded and said we would love to come. Inside, we looked around and Grover said:  
\- Wow.  
The entire lobby was a giant game room. And I'm not talking about tramp games like the old Pac-Man or the slot machines. There was a water slide snaking around the glass elevator, which went up at least forty floors.  
There was a climbing wall on the side of a building, and an internal bridge for bungee jumping.  
Virtual reality outfits with laser guns that worked. And hundreds of video games, each the size of a widescreen TV. Basically, whatever you say, the place had it. There were a few other children playing, but not many. There was no waiting for any of the games. Waitresses and diners were everywhere, serving every type of food imaginable.  
\- Hey! Said a messenger. At least I thought he was a messenger. He wore a white and yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts and flip-flops. - Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key.  
Did I stuttered:  
\- Uh, but ...  
"No, no," he said, laughing. –The bill has already been paid. No extra fees, no tips. You just need to go up to the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like more foam for the hot tub or targets for shooting, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your GranaLótus cards. They work in restaurants and in all games and toys.  
He handed each of us a green plastic credit card. I knew there must be some mistake. Obviously he had thought we were millionaire children. But I took the card and said:  
\- How much is there?  
He raised his eyebrows.  
\- What you mean?  
\- I mean how much credit do we have?  
He laughed.  
\- Ah, it's a joke. Hey, cool. Enjoy your stay.  
We took the elevator up and checked our room. It was a suite with three separate bedrooms and a bar full of sweets, soft drinks and snacks. A direct line to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A huge television with satellite and broadband Internet. The porch had its own hot tub and, in fact, a plate-throwing machine and a shotgun - you could throw pigeons over the Las Vegas landscape and hit them with the shotgun.  
I didn't understand how that could be allowed, but I thought it was really cool. The view of Vegas Boulevard and the desert was wonderful, although I doubted we would have time to admire the scenery with a room like that.  
"Ah, gods," said Annabeth. - This place is ...  
"Wonderful," said Grover. - Super wonderful.  
There were clothes in the closet, and they fit me. I frowned, finding it a little strange.

-Always attracting demigods.-Said Dionysus-Idiots miss many missions.

I threw Ares's backpack in the trash can. I wouldn't need that anymore. When we left, I could buy a new hotel store.  
I took a shower, which was a great feeling after a week of dirty travel. I changed my clothes, ate a bag of snacks, drank three Cokes and hadn't felt so good in a long time. Deep in my head, a little problem bothered me. I had a dream, or something ... I needed to talk to my friends. But it certainly could wait.  
I left the room and saw that Annabeth and Grover had also showered and changed clothes. Grover was eating chips until he was fed up, while Annabeth tuned the National Geographic Channel.  
"All these channels," I told her, "and you call National Geographic." Are you crazy?  
\- It's interesting.  
"I feel good," said Grover. - I love this place.  
Without his realizing it, the wings appeared on his sneakers and suspended him a foot from the ground, then dropped him down again.  
\- So, what do we do now? Asked Annabeth. - Did we sleep?  
Grover and I look at each other and smile. We both held up our green plastic GranaLótus cards.  
"Time for recess," I said.  
I couldn't remember the last time I had so much fun. I came from a relatively poor family. For us, to waste was to eat out at Burger King and rent a video. A five star hotel in Vegas? No way.  
I jumped bungee-jump in the lobby five or six times, rode the waterslide, snowboarded on the artificial snow ramp, played lasertag and FBI sniper in virtual reality. I saw Grover a few times, going from game to game. He had really liked that thing about the hunter inside out - where the deer come out and shoot the hillbilly. I saw Annabeth playing trivia and other big-headed games. There was a huge 3D Sim, in which you could build your own city and actually see the holographic buildings go up on the board. I didn't think much of it, but Annabeth loved it.  
I'm not sure when I realized something was wrong.

-Percy who noticed and not Annabeth! -Persephone said surprised.

It was probably when I noticed the guy standing next to me in the virtual snipers game.He was about thirteen, I think, but his clothes were weird. I thought he was the son of some Elvis Presley stuntman. He wore bell-bottom jeans and a red T-shirt with black trimmings, and his hair was curly and full of gel, like that of a New Jersey girl on an alumni meeting night.  
We played together in the snipers game, and he said:  
\- Like, man. I've been here for two weeks and the games are getting better and better.  
Like, man?  
Later, while we were talking, I said that something was "angry" and he looked at me in some surprise, as if he had never heard the word used that way before.  
He said his name was Darrin, but as soon as I started asking questions he got upset and started to go back to the computer screen.  
I said:  
\- Hey, Darrin?  
\- What?  
\- What year is it?  
He frowned at me.  
\- In the game?  
\- No. In real life.  
He had to think.  
\- One thousand nine hundred seventy seven.  
"No," I said, starting to get a little scared. - Really.  
\- Hey, man. Bad vibrations. I'm in the middle of a game.  
After that he totally ignored me. I started talking to people and found it was not easy.  
They were glued to the TV screen or the video game or whatever. I found a guy who told me it was 1985. Another guy told me it was 1993. Everyone claimed they hadn't been there for a long time, a few days, a few weeks at most. They really didn't know, nor did they care.  
Then it occurred to me: how long had I been there? It only seemed like a few hours, but was it?  
I tried to remember why we were there. We were going to Los Angeles. We should find the entrance to the Underworld. My mother ... for a terrifying moment, I had difficulty remembering her name. Sally. Sally Jackson. I had to find her. he needed to prevent Hades from unleashing World War III.  
I found Annabeth still building her city.  
"Come on," I told her. - We need to get out of here.  
No answer.  
\- Annabeth?  
She looked up, annoyed.  
\- What?  
\- Listen. The Underworld. Our mission!  
\- Come on, Percy. Just a few more minutes.  
\- Annabeth, there are people here since 1977. Children who never grew up. When you enter, you stay forever.  
\- And? She asked. - Can you imagine a better place?  
I grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the game.  
\- Hey! - she shouted and hit me, but no one even bothered to look. They were too busy.  
I made her look in my eyes. I said:  
\- Spiders. Large hairy spiders.  
It moved her. His vision cleared.  
"Ah, my gods," he said. - How long have we ...  
\- I don't know, but we have to find Grover.  
We went looking for him, and we found him still playing Virtual Deer Hunter.  
\- Grover! - we shout together.  
He said:  
\- Die, human being! Die, foolish and polluting person!  
\- Grover!  
He pointed the plastic gun at me and started to click, as if I were just another image on the screen.  
I looked at Annabeth and together we took Grover by the arms and dragged him away. The flying sneakers woke up and started pulling his legs in the opposite direction, while he shouted:  
\- No! I just passed the level! No!  
The Lotus messenger ran to us.  
\- So, are you ready for your platinum cards?  
"We're leaving," I told him.  
"What a pity," he said, and I had a feeling he was being sincere, that we were going to break his heart by breaking. - We just added a new floor full of games for platinum card holders.  
He showed the cards, and I wanted one. He knew that if he did, he would never leave. I would stay there, happily ever after, playing forever, and soon forget about my mother, and my mission, and maybe even my own name. I would be playing Virtual Shooter with the bug-joinha-Darrin-Discoteca forever.  
Grover reached for the card, but Annabeth pulled his arm and said:  
\- No, thank you.  
We walked towards the door, and when we did, the smell of food and the sounds of the games seemed to get more and more inviting. I thought of our room upstairs. We could just spend the night, sleep in a real bed for a change ...  
Then we shot through the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran out onto the sidewalk. It felt like mid-afternoon, about the same time we had entered the casino, but something was wrong. The weather had changed completely. It was stormy, with rays of heat flashing in the desert.  
Ares's backpack was slung over my shoulder, which was strange, as I was sure I had thrown it in the trash can in room 4001.

-What's in the backpack? -You wanted to know Hephaestus suspicious.

But at that moment, I had other problems to worry about.  
I ran to the nearest newspaper and read the year first. Thanks to the gods, it was the same year as when we entered. Then I noticed the date: June 20th.  
We had stayed at the Casino Lotus for five days.  
We only had one day until the summer solstice. One day to complete our mission.


	19. Chapter 17

\- Let's buy water beds -Leu Nemesis.

The idea was Annabeth's. She put us in the back seat of a Las Vegas taxi as if we really had money, and said to the driver:  
\- Los Angeles, please.  
The taxi driver chewed his cigar and measured us with his eyes.  
\- It's four hundred and eighty-two kilometers. For that, you have to pay in advance.  
\- Do you accept casino debit card? Asked Annabeth.

-Can you do that ?. How interesting, ”said Chiron.

He shrugged.

\- Some. They work like credit cards. I need to pass the card first.  
Annabeth held out the green GranaLótus card to him.  
The driver looked suspicious.  
"Pass the card," said Annabeth.  
He did that.  
The meter began to crackle. Lights came on. Finally, an infinity symbol appeared beside the dollar sign.  
The cigar fell from the driver's mouth. He looked at us with wide eyes.  
\- Where in Los Angeles ... uh ... Your Highness?

-Highness? -Hades said-They never call me that.

\- The Santa Monica Pier. Annabeth straightened up a little. I could tell she liked that "Your Highness." - Take us quickly, and you can keep the change.  
Maybe she shouldn't have said that.  
The taxi's speedometer did not drop below one hundred and sixty all the way across the Mojave Desert.  
On the road, we had plenty of time to talk. I told Annabeth and Grover about my last dream, but the more I tried to remember, the more inaccurate the details became. The Lotus Casino seemed to have caused a short circuit in my memory. I couldn't remember what the servant's voice sounded like, although I was sure it was from someone I knew. The servant had called the monster in the abyss by some other name besides "my lord" ... Some name or special title ...

"Cheater," said Zeus.

\- The Silent? Suggested Annabeth. - Rico? Both are nicknames for Hades.  
\- Maybe ... - I said - although neither of them seemed very sure.  
"The throne room seems to be Hades'," said Grover. - That's how they usually describe it.  
I shook my head.  
\- Something is wrong. The throne room was not the main part of my dream. And that voice in the abyss ... I don't know. It just didn't sound like a god's voice. Annabeth's eyes widened.  
\- What's it? - I asked.  
\- Nothing. I was just ... No, it has to be Hades. Maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to catch the master ray, and something went wrong ...

-She knows-Said Athena-Knows it's Cronos.

\- What kind?  
"I ... I don't know," she said. - But if he stole the symbol of Zeus' power from Olympus, and the gods were hunting him, I mean, a lot of things could go wrong, or he lost it somehow. Either way, she couldn't get him to Hades. That's what the voice said in your dream, right? The guy failed. That would explain what the Furies were looking for when they came after us on the bus. Maybe they think we got the ray back.  
I didn't quite know what was wrong with her. She looked pale.  
\- But if I had already recovered the lightning - I said - why would I be traveling to the Underworld?  
"To threaten Hades," suggested Grover. - To bribe or blackmail you to return your mother.  
I hissed.  
\- You have wicked thoughts for a goat.  
\- Well, thanks.  
"But the thing in the abyss said it was expecting two," I said. - If the master ray is one, which one is the other?  
Grover shook his head, clearly puzzled.  
Annabeth looked at me as if she knew what my next question would be and was silently wishing I didn't ask.  
\- You have no idea what could be in that abyss don't you? - I asked her. - I mean, if it's not Hades.  
\- Percy ... let's not talk about it. Because if it's not Hades ... No. It has to be Hades.  
Desolation passed through us. We passed a sign that read CALIFORNIA STATE CURRENCY, TWENTY KILOMETERS.  
I had the feeling that I was failing to notice some simple and crucial information. It was like when I looked at a word I should have known, but it didn't make sense because one or two letters were floating out of place. The more I thought about my mission, the more sure I was that confronting Hades was not the real answer. There was something else going on, something even more dangerous.  
The problem was, we were racing toward the Underworld at a hundred miles an hour, betting that Hades had the master ray. If we got there and found out we were wrong, we wouldn't have time to correct the mistake. The solstice term would pass and the war would begin.  
"The answer is in the Underworld," said Annabeth. - You saw the spirits of the dead, Percy. There is only one place where this is possible. We are doing the right thing.

-I hope so! -Hestia said.

She tried to raise our morale by suggesting ingenious strategies for entering the Land of the Dead, but my heart was not at it. The fact is that there were many unknown factors. It was like studying madly for an exam without knowing what the subject is. And, believe me, I had done this many times before.  
The taxi was going all the way west. Every gust of wind in the Death Valley looked like a spirit from the dead. Every time the brakes screeched behind an eighteen-wheeled truck, it reminded me of Echidna's reptilian voice.  
At sunset, the taxi dropped us off at Santa Monica beach. It was just like the beaches in Los Angeles you see in the movies, only the smell was worse. There were amusement park carousels along the pier, palm trees on the sidewalks, homeless people sleeping on the dunes and surfers waiting for the perfect wave,  
Grover, Annabeth and I walked to the seaside.  
\- And now? Asked Annabeth.  
The Pacific was turning golden in the setting sun. I thought about how long it had been since I had been on Montauk beach, on the other side of the country, looking at a different sea.  
How could there be a god who could control it all? What did my science teacher say - two-thirds of the Earth's surface is covered with water? How could I be the son of someone so powerful?  
I entered the surf.  
–Percy? Said Annabeth. - What are you doing?  
I kept walking until the water reached my waist, then my chest. She shouted at me:  
\- Do you have any idea how polluted this water is? There are all kinds of toxic things ...  
That's when my head submerged.  
At first, I held my breath. It is difficult to inhale water on purpose. Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I took a breath. In fact, I was able to breathe normally.  
I walked down to the sand banks. I shouldn't be able to see in those dark waters, but somehow I could tell where everything was. I could feel the wavy texture of the background. He could make out colonies of starfish dotting the sand banks. He could even see the currents, hot and cold, swirling together.  
I felt something rubbing against my leg. I looked down and jumped out of the water like a missile. Sliding beside me was a five-foot-long shadow shark.  
But he wasn't attacking, he was just rubbing his nose at me. It was on my heels like a dog. Wobbly, I touched his dorsal fin. He resisted a little, as if he were inviting me to hold on tighter. I grabbed the fin with both hands. He left, pulling me. The shark dragged me to the bottom, into the darkness, and dropped me at the edge of the ocean itself, where the sandbar fell into an immense abyss. It was like being at the edge of the Grand Canyon at midnight, unable to see much but knowing that the void was right there.  
The surface flickered about fifty meters away. I knew I must have been crushed by the pressure. But, on the other hand, the natural thing was that he didn't breathe either. I wondered if there was a limit to which I could go, and if it was possible to go straight down to the bottom of the Pacific.  
Then I saw something glittering in the darkness below, getting bigger and brighter as it went up towards me. A woman's voice, like my mother's, called:  
\- Percy Jackson.

-A Nereida.

When she got closer, her shape became clearer. She had loose black hair and wore a green silk dress. The light flickered around her, and her eyes were so disturbingly beautiful that I barely noticed the steed-sized seahorse she was riding on.  
She dismounted. The seahorse and the shadow shark quickly moved away and started a game that looked like hide and seek. The underwater lady smiled at me.  
\- You've come a long way, Percy Jackson. Very well!  
I didn't quite know what to do, so I bowed.  
\- You are the woman who spoke to me on the Mississippi River.  
\- Yes, child. I am a nereid, a spirit of the sea. It was not easy to appear so far upstream, but the Naiads, my freshwater cousins, helped to sustain my vital force. They honor Lord Poseidon, although they do not serve his court.  
\- And ... do you serve at Poseidon's court?  
She nodded.  
\- Many years have passed since a child of the God of the Sea was born. We watched him with great interest.

"Many expect great things from him," said Apollo.

I suddenly remembered the faces on the waves near Montauk beach when I was a little boy, reflections of smiling women. As with so many strange things in my life, I never really thought about it.  
"If my father is so interested in me," I said, "why aren't you here?" Why don't you talk to me?

"Because I can't, we can't all," said Poseidon.

A cold current rose from the depths.  
"Don't judge the Lord of the Sea so harshly," said Nereida. - He's about to fight an unwanted war. You have a lot to occupy your time with. In addition, it is prohibited to help you directly.  
The gods cannot demonstrate such favoritism.  
\- Even with your own children?  
\- Especially with these. The gods can only act by indirect influence. That's why I give you a warning, and a gift.  
She held out an open hand and three white pearls sparkled.  
"I know of your journey to the Hades domain," he said. - Few mortals have ever done this and survived: Orpheus, who had great musical talent; Hercules, who had great strength; Houdini, who could escape even the depths of Tartarus. Do you have these talents?  
\- Uh ... no, ma'am.  
\- Ah, but you have something else, Percy. He has gifts that he is just beginning to discover. The oracles predicted a great and extraordinary future for you, as long as you survive until adulthood. Poseidon will not accept that he dies ahead of time, so take these pearls, and when you are in trouble, crush them at your feet.  
\- What will happen?  
\- It depends on the predicament. But remember: what belongs to the sea will always return to the sea.  
\- And the warning?  
Her eyes flashed green.  
\- Do what your heart tells you, or you'll lose everything. Hades feeds on doubts and hopelessness. He will deceive you if he can, make you suspicious of your own judgment. Once you are in his domain, Hades will never voluntarily allow you to leave. Keep the faith. Good luck, Percy Jackson.  
She called for her seahorse and left for the void.  
\- Wait! I shouted. - On the river, you said not to trust gifts. What gifts?

-Ares gave him gifts -Remembered Artemis-And when Percy threw the backpack away, it appeared on his back. And the servant in the dream, said he could have brought it directly, but he handed it to Percy.  
-It was you Ares-Zeus said furiously -Why? To make them fight, blaming each other, and you would take our place. It's what I always wanted.  
-And now Percy is going with the lightning to my house-Said Hades-I will think that he stole it.And this will not end well.  
"Pray to Styx so Percy won't die," said Poseidon. "Or I'll take care of your destiny myself."

"Goodbye, young hero," she shouted back, her voice disappearing in the depths. - You must hear your heart. - It turned into a bright green spot and then disappeared. I wanted to follow you into the dark depths. I wanted to see Poseidon's court. But I looked up at the twilight that turned to night on the surface. My friends were waiting. We had so little time ...  
I took upward momentum towards the surf.  
When I got to the beach, my clothes dried up instantly. I told Grover and Annabeth what had happened, and showed them the pearls.  
Annabeth frowned.  
\- No gift comes without a price.  
\- They were free.  
"No." She shook her head. - "There is no free lunch." It is an ancient Greek saying that applies perfectly today. There will be a price. Wait.  
With that happy thought, we turned our back on the sea.  
We took the bus to West Hollywood with some of the spare money left in Ares' backpack. I showed the driver the receipt with the address of the Underworld I had picked up from Aunt Eme's Garden Dwarfs Emporium, but he had never heard of it at the M.A.C. - Dead on arrival.  
\- Do you remind me of someone I saw on TV - he said - child actor, or something?  
\- Uh ... I'm a stuntman ... for a lot of child actors.  
\- Ah! It is explained.  
I thanked him and quickly got off at the next stop.  
We wandered for miles looking for the M.A.C. Nobody seemed to know where it was. It was not in the phone book. Twice we dodged into alleys to avoid police vehicles.  
I was paralyzed in front of an appliance store window because a television showed an interview with someone who looked very familiar - my stepfather, Gabe Cheiroso. He was talking to Barbara Walters - looking like a big celebrity. She was interviewing him in our apartment, in the middle of a poker game, and there was a young blonde woman sitting next to him, stroking his hand.  
A fake tear shone on his cheek as he said:  
\- Honestly, Mrs. Walters, if it weren't for Fluffy, my counselor in the sad times, I would be a wreck. My stepson took everything that was dear to me ... My wife ... my Camaro ... I ... sorry. I find it difficult to talk about it.  
\- There you go, America. - Barbara Walters turned to the camera. - A broken man. A teenage boy in serious trouble. Let me now show you the last photo of this troubled young fugitive, taken a week ago in Denver.  
The screen cropped to a grainy photo in which me, Annabeth and Grover outside the Colorado restaurant were talking to Ares.  
\- Who are the other children in this photo? Asked Barbara Walters dramatically. - Who is the man with them? Is Percy Jackson a delinquent, a terrorist or a brainwashed victim of a new and scary sect? When we get back, we'll talk to a renowned child psychologist. Stay with us, America.  
"Come on," Grover told me. He dragged me away before I punched a hole in the appliance store window.  
It was dark, and hungry-looking characters began to take to the streets to play their roles. Don't get me wrong. I'm a New Yorker. I don't get scared easily. But being in Los Angeles was quite different from being in New York. Where I lived everything seemed close. Although it was a big city, it was possible to get anywhere without getting lost. The street pattern and the subway made sense. There was a criterion for how things worked. As long as it wasn't silly, a boy could feel safe there.  
Los Angeles was not like that. It was scattered, chaotic, it was difficult to get around. It reminded Ares. For Los Angeles, it was not enough to be big; it was also necessary to prove to be big by being noisy, strange and difficult to navigate. I didn't know how we were going to find the entrance to the Underworld until the next day, the summer solstice.  
We passed gangs, vagrants and street vendors, who looked at us as if trying to assess whether attacking us would be a good deal.  
As we hurried past an alley entrance, a voice said in the dark:  
\- Hey you.  
Like an idiot, I stopped. Before we knew it, we were surrounded. A gang of boys was around us. Six in all - white boys with expensive clothes and a wicked expression.  
Like the boys at Yancy Academy; rich kids playing bad guys. Instinctively, I unleashed Countercurrent.

\- They're deadly. You won't do anything, ”said Athena.

When the sword appeared out of nowhere, they retreated, but their leader was either too stupid or too brave, because he kept advancing on me with a spring knife.  
I made the mistake of delivering a blow.  
The boy gave a shriek. But he must have been one hundred percent deadly, because the blade passed harmlessly across his chest. He looked down.  
\- What a...  
I figured I had about three seconds before his shock turned to anger.  
\- Run! I shouted at Annabeth and Grover.  
We pushed two of them out of the way and ran down the street, not knowing where we were going. We turn a corner into a tight curve.  
\- There! Cried Annabeth.  
Only one store on the block seemed open, the windows glowing in neon. The sign above the door said something like LACIÁPO ADS MASCA Á’GDUS OS SCRATO.  
\- Crosta Waterfront Palace? - translated Grover.  
It didn't seem like the kind of place I would enter into except for an emergency, but that was certainly the situation.  
We burst through the doors, ran behind a water bed and ducked. A split second later, the gang of boys ran outside.  
"I think we lost them," Grover gasped.  
One in the voice behind us boomed:  
\- Who did they lose?  
We all jumped. Standing behind him was a guy who looked like a tyrannosaurus in business clothes. He was at least two meters and quite tall, completely bald. The skin was gray and tanned like leather, eyes with thick lids and a cold, reptilian smile.

-Monster!!.

He was approaching slowly, but I had a feeling he could move quickly if he needed to.  
His outfit looked like it was out of the Lotus Casino. It was from the glorious 70s. The shirt was printed silk, unbuttoned halfway down the hairless chest. The lapels of the velvet coat were as wide as airstrips. There were so many silver chains around my neck that I couldn't even count.  
"I'm the Crust," he said with a yellow smile from Tartar.  
I resisted the urge to say, Yes, it's in the face.

"I wouldn't have resisted," said Apollo laconito.

"Sorry about the invasion," I said. - We are alone, uh, taking a look.  
"You mean, hiding from those bad-looking boys," he muttered. - They hang around here every night. A lot of people enter the store, thanks to them. Say, want to see a waterbed?  
I was about to say No, thanks when he put a huge paw on my shoulder and pushed me further into the store. There were all kinds of water beds you can imagine: different types of wood, different patterned sheets; queen-size, king-size, gigantic.  
\- This is my most successful model. Crust ran his hands proudly over a bed covered in black satin, with lava lamps built into the headboard. The mattress vibrated, and it looked like oil jelly.  
"A million hand massage," said Crust. - Go ahead, try it. Take a nap, have a look. I do not care. There is little movement today.  
\- Er - I said. - I don't think ...  
\- Massage of a million hands! Exclaimed Grover, and dove into the bed. - Ah, people! This is cool.  
"Hmmm," said Crust, scratching his leather chin. - Almost, almost.  
\- Almost what? - I asked.  
He looked at Annabeth.  
\- Do me a favor and try that one over there, baby. It can do.  
Annabeth said:  
\- But what...  
He gave her a few soothing pats on the shoulder and took her to the Safari Safari model, with teak lions carved into the frame and a leopard quilt.  
As Annabeth did not want to lie down, Crust pushed her away.  
\- Hey! She protested.  
Crust snapped his fingers.  
\- Ergo!  
Ropes jumped off the sides of the bed and wrapped Annabeth like whips, pinning her to the mattress.  
Grover tried to get up, but ropes jumped off his black satin bed as well, and pinned him.  
\- N-it's not l-l-cool! He shouted, his voice vibrating with the massage of a million hands. - N-n-nothing l-l-cool!  
The giant looked at Annabeth, turned to me and smiled broadly.  
\- Almost. Damn it.  
I tried to pull away, but his hand darted and grabbed me by the scruff.  
\- Hey, boy. Do not worry. We'll find one for you in a second.  
\- Let go of my friends.  
\- Oh, certainly, I will. But I will have to adjust them first.  
\- What you mean?  
\- All beds are exactly six feet tall, you know? Your friends are too short. I have to adjust them to fit the beds.

"Is he going to ... stretch them?" Aphrodite asked without reaction.

Annabeth and Grover continued to struggle.  
"I don't tolerate imperfect measures," muttered Crosta. - Ergo!  
A new set of ropes jumped from the feet and headboard, wrapping around Grover and Annabeth's ankles and armpits. The strings started to stretch, pulling my friends by both ends.  
"Don't worry," said Crust to me. - It's a stretch job. Perhaps an inch more in their columns. They may even survive. Now, why don't we find a bed that you like, huh?  
\- Percy! Shouted Grover.  
My head was racing. He knew that he would not be able to dominate that giant seller of waterbeds alone. He would break my neck before I even took the sword.  
\- Your real name isn't Crust, is it? - I asked.  
"It is Procrusto on the certificate," he admitted.  
\- The Stretcher.  
I remembered the story: the giant who tried to kill Theseus with excessive hospitality on the way to Athens.  
"Yes," said the salesman. - But who is able to pronounce Procrusto? It's bad for business. Now, 'Crust' one can say.  
\- You're right. It sounds great. - His eyes lit up.  
\- Do you really think so?  
"Oh, absolutely," I said. - And the finishing of these beds? Fabulous!

-If you can't against the enemy, join him -Athena said -The ego is something that can bring you down.

He smiled widely, but his fingers didn't loosen on my neck.  
\- I say that to my customers. Ever. No one cares to examine the finish. How many built-in lava lamps have you seen?  
\- Not many.  
\- Sure!  
\- Percy! Cried Annabeth. - What are you doing?  
"Don't mind her," I said to Procrusto. - She impossible.  
The giant laughed.  
\- All my customers are. They are never exactly six feet tall. Very inattentive. And then they complain about the adjustment.  
\- What do you do when they are over six feet?  
\- Well, that always happens. It is a simple adjustment.  
He released my neck, but before I could react he reached behind a nearby counter and took out a huge bronze ax with a double blade. He said:  
\- Just center the customer as best as possible and trim what is left on both ends.  
"Ah," I said, swallowing. - Sensible.  
\- I am so pleased to come across a smart customer!  
Now the strings were really stretching my friends. Annabeth was going pale. Grover made gurgling sounds, like a strangled goose.  
\- So, Crust ... - I said, trying to keep my voice carefree. I glanced at the Special Honeymoon bed, shaped like a heart. - Does this one really have dynamic stabilizers to compensate for the wave motion?  
\- Of course. Try it.  
\- Yes, maybe I'll try it. But would it also work for a big guy like you? Without any ripples?  
\- Guaranteed.  
\- I do not believe.  
\- Can believe.  
\- Show it.  
He willingly sat on the bed and patted the mattress.  
\- No ripples. Saw?  
I snapped my fingers.  
\- Ergo!

-Crosta has size, it has stupidity-said Nemesis.

The ropes bounced around Crust and flattened him on the mattress.  
\- Hey! He shouted.  
"Center it well," I said.  
The strings readjusted at my command. Crosta's entire head stayed out of the headboard. The feet were out at the other end.  
\- No! - he said. - Wait! It was just a demonstration.  
I uncovered Countercurrent.  
\- Some adjustments ...  
I had no qualms about what I was about to do. If Crosta wasn’t human, I couldn’t hurt him anyway. If it were a monster, it deserved to be turned to dust for some time.  
"You negotiate hard," he told me. - I give you thirty percent discount on the models on display!  
\- I think I'll start with the top. - I raised the sword.  
\- No entry! Six-month interest-free financing!  
I dropped the sword. Crust stopped making offers.  
I cut the strings on the other beds. Annabeth and Grover stood up, moaning and shrinking and cursing me a lot.  
"You look taller," I said.  
"Very funny," said Annabeth. - Next time be faster.  
I looked at the bulletin board behind the crust counter. There was an advertisement for the Hermes Delivery Service and another for the Complete Guide to Monsters in the Los Angeles Area - "The Only Yellow Monster Pages You'll Need!"  
Underneath that, a bright orange pamphlet from the M.A.C. Recording Studios offering commissions for heroes' souls. "We are always looking for new talent!" The address was just below, with a map.  
"Come on," I said to my friends.  
"Wait just a minute," Grover complained. - We were practically stretched to death!  
"So they're ready for the Underworld," I said. - It's only a block away.

Ares was quiet, why did he steal Zeus' lightning ?. And the worst thing because he was talking to Cronos? .The big three would finish him off.


	20. Chapter 18

\- Annabeth uses the dressage class-Leu Hera.

**We were in the shadows of Valencia Boulevard, looking at the golden letters engraved on the black marble: M.A.C. RECORDING STUDIOS**   
**Below, printed on the glass doors, THE ENTRANCE OF LAWYERS, BA AND LIVINGERS IS FORBIDDEN.**

-I will explain-Said Hades-They are bags, lawyers when they die, they want to know everything, they say that even dead have their rights. I got tired, and forbade them. That simple.

I **t was almost midnight, but the lobby was bright and crowded. Behind the security desk sat an aggressive-looking guard with sunglasses and a headset.**

**I turned to my friends.**   
**\- Right. You remember the plan.**   
**"The plan." Grover swallowed. - That. I love the plan.**   
**Annabeth said:**   
**\- What will happen if the plan doesn't work?**   
**\- No negative thoughts.**   
**"Okay," she said. - We are entering the Land of the Dead and I must not have**   
**negative thoughts.**   
**I took the pearls out of my pocket, the three milk-colored spheres that Nereida had given me in Santa Monica. They didn't seem like a resource in case something went wrong.**   
**Annabeth put her hand on my shoulder.**   
**\- Sorry, Percy. You are right, we will succeed. Will be all right.**   
**She gave Grover a nudge.**   
**\- Oh, that's right! - he agreed. - We got here. We will find the master ray and save your mother. Smoothly.**   
**I looked at both of them and I was really grateful. A few minutes before, I had almost had them stretched to death in luxury water beds, and now they were trying to play the brave because of me, trying to make me feel better.**   
**I stuffed the pearls back in my pocket.**   
**\- Let's kick some ass in the Underworld.**   
**We enter the lobby of M.A.C.**   
**Built-in speakers played soft ambient music. The carpet and walls were lead gray. Cacti grew in the corners like skeletal hands. The furniture was black leather, and all the seats were occupied. There were people sitting on sofas, people standing, people looking out the window or waiting for the elevator. Nobody moved or spoke, they did nothing. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see them very well, but if I focused on anyone in particular, they started to look ... transparent. You could see through their bodies.**

**The security desk was on top of a step, so we had to look up to talk to the guard.**   
**He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-colored skin and dyed blond hair, cut in a military style. He wore a tortoiseshell frame and an Italian silk suit that matched his hair. A black rose was attached to the lapel, under a silver badge.**   
**I read the name on the badge and looked at him in bewilderment.**   
**\- Is your name Chiron?**

-Almost. Charon-Said Persephone laughing.

**He leaned across the table. I couldn't see anything in your glasses except my own reflection, but your smile was sweet and cold, like a boa constrictor just before it devoured you.**   
**\- What a cute boy. - He had a strange accent ... English, perhaps, but as if he had learned English as a second language. - Tell me, partner, do I look like a centaur?**   
**\- N-no.**   
**"Sir," he added softly.**   
**"Sir," I said.**   
**He held up his badge and ran his finger under the letters.**   
**\- Can you read this, partner? It says C-A-R-O-N-T-E here. Say with me: CA-RON-TE.**   
**\- Charon.**   
**\- Fantastic! Now: Mr. Charon.**   
**"Mr. Charon," I said.**   
**\- Very well. - He leaned back. - I hate to be confused with that man-horse. And now, how can I help you, little dead?**   
**His question hit my stomach like a baseball. I looked to Annabeth for help.**   
**"We want to go to the Underworld," she said.**   
**Charon's mouth twitched.**   
**\- Well, that's invigorating.**   
**\- Really? She asked.**   
**\- Direct and honest. No screams. Without "There must be some mistake, Mr. Charon". - He looked us up and down. - So how did you die?**

"Burned," suggested Athena.  
"In combat," said Poseidon.  
"They took poison," said Hades.  
And all the gods, began to give their ideals of death.

**I nudged Grover.**   
**"Ah," he said. - Er ... drowned ... in the bathtub.**   
**\- The three? Asked Charon.**   
**We nod.**

-When you think that, stupidity cannot get worse, said Zeus.

**\- What a big bathtub. Charon looked slightly impressed. - I suppose you don't have coins to pass. With adults, you know, I could charge your credit card, or add the crossing price to your last phone bill. But with children ... unfortunately, you never die prepared. I think they will have to sit for a few centuries.**   
**\- Ah, but we have coins. I put three drachmas of gold on the counter, part of the supply I had found on the table in Crosta's office.**   
**\- Now look ... - Charon moistened his lips. - Real drachmas. I don't see one of those ...**   
**His fingers hovered greedily over the coins. We were too close.**   
**Then Charon looked at me.**

**The cold look behind the glasses seemed to open a hole in my chest.**   
**\- But you couldn't read my name properly. Are you dyslexic, boy?**   
**\- No. I'm a dead man.**   
**Charon leaned forward and sniffed.**   
**\- You are not dead. I should have known. It is a child of god.**   
**"We have to get to the Underworld," I insisted.**   
**Charon snarled deep in his throat.**   
**At the same moment, all the people in the waiting room got up and started pacing, agitated, lighting cigarettes, running their hands through their hair, or looking at their watches.**   
**"Go away while you can," Charon told us. - I'll keep these coins and forget I saw them.**   
**He started to reach for the coins, but I pulled them back.**   
**\- No service, no tip. - I tried to appear braver than I felt. Charon snarled again - a deep, blood-chilling sound. The spirits of the dead began to knock on the elevator doors.**   
**"It's a shame," I sighed. - We had more to offer.**   
**I lifted the entire bag with the crusted treasure. I took out a handful of drachmas and let the coins slip between my fingers. Charon's snarl turned into something more like a lion's purr.**   
**\- Do you think you can buy me, son of god? Um ... curiosity, how much do you have there?**

-You are not found anymore, employees as in the past-Said Apolo-Tragic! .

_"_ **A lot," I said. - I bet Hades doesn't pay you enough for such hard work.**   
**\- Ah, you don't even know half of it. Would you like to babysit these spirits all day? Always with "Please don't let me get killed" or "Please let me cross for free." I haven't had a raise in three thousand years. Do you think suits like this are cheap?**

-I pay very well, Charon always wants a raise-Said Hades-Then I will have a long conversation with him.

**"You deserve better," I agreed. - Some recognition. Respect. Good salary.**   
**With every word, I stacked another gold coin on the counter. Charon looked down at his Italian silk jacket, as if he was imagining himself with something even better.**   
**\- I must say, boy, that we are starting to speak the same language. A little.**   
**I stacked a few more coins.**   
**\- I could mention a salary increase when talking to Hades.**   
**He sighed.**   
**\- Well, the boat is almost full. I could fit the three of you together and set sail.**   
**He stood up, took our money and said:**   
**\- Come with me.**   
**We made our way through the crowd of waiting spirits, who started pulling our clothes like the wind, their voices whispering things I couldn't make out. Charon pushed them out of the way, muttering:**   
**\- Parasites.**

-I would not classify like that - Said Athena-Maybe desperate, they just want to cross.

**He escorted us to the elevator, which was already crowded with some of the dead, all holding a green boarding pass. Charon grabbed two spirits trying to get in with us and pushed them back into the lobby.**   
**\- Very well. Now, no one should start having any ideas while I'm gone, ”he announced to the waiting room. - And if someone takes my music station out of tune again, I will make you stay here for another millennium. Understood?**   
**He closed the doors. He stuck a key card in a slot in the elevator panel and we started down.**   
**\- What happens to the spirits waiting in the lobby? Asked Annabeth.**   
**"Nothing," said Charon.**   
**\- For how long?**   
**\- Forever, or until I feel generous.**   
**"Ah," she said. - This is fair.**   
**Charon raised an eyebrow.**   
**\- Who said death was fair, young lady? Wait until your turn comes. You will die in no time at the place where you are going.**   
**"Let's get out alive," I said.**   
**\- Ah.**   
**I suddenly felt dizzy. We were no longer going down, but forward. The air was misty. The spirits around me began to change shape. Their modern clothes trembled and turned into gray hooded robes.**

"Clothes for the trial," said Hera.

**The elevator floor started to wobble.**   
**I blinked hard. When I opened my eyes, Charonte's Italian cream suit was replaced by a long black cloak. His turtle glasses were gone. Where the eyes were supposed to be, there were empty sockets - like Ares's eyes, only Charon's were completely dark, filled with night, darkness and despair. He saw me looking and said:**   
**\- What?**   
**"Nothing," I managed to say.**   
**I thought he was smiling, but that wasn't it. The skin on his face was becoming transparent, letting me see even the skull.**   
**The floor continued to sway.**   
**Grover said:**   
**\- I think I'm getting sick.**   
**When I blinked again, the elevator was no longer an elevator. We were inside a wooden barge.**

-It was from there that Auto appeared from the barge of hell-Said Hades-A beautiful piece made by a mortal on the crossing.

**Charon used a stick to move us along a dark, oil-filled river, with bones, dead fish and other strange things spinning on the surface ... plastic dolls, crushed carnations, diplomas soaked with golden edges.**   
**"The River Styx," murmured Annabeth. - Is so...**   
**"Polluted," said Charon. - For thousands of years, you human beings, when you cross it, throw everything on it ... hopes, dreams, wishes that never come true. An irresponsible way of handling your trash, if you want to know.**

"They are irresponsible," said Poseidon.

**The mist swirled up from the filthy water. Above us, almost lost in the shadows, was a stalactite ceiling. Ahead, the distant coast shone with a greenish light, the color of poison.**   
**Panic blocked my throat. What was I doing there? Those people around me ... were dead.**   
**Annabeth grabbed my hand. Under normal circumstances, it would have embarrassed me, but I understood how she felt. He wanted to make sure that someone else was alive on that boat.**   
**I realized that I was murmuring a prayer, although I was not sure who was praying for. Down there only one god mattered, and he was the one I had to confront.**   
**The beach of the Underworld came into view. Rugged rocks and black volcanic sand stretched inland for about a hundred meters to a high stone wall, which stretched sideways as far as the eye could see. From somewhere nearby in the green shadows, a sound came, reverberating on the rocks - the howling of a large animal.**

-Cerberus! -Persephone said happy.

 **"Old Three-Face is hungry," said Charon. His smile became skeletal in the greenish light. - Bad luck for you children of gods.**  
 **The bottom of our boat slid over the black sand. The dead began to disembark. A woman holding the hand of a little girl. An elderly couple limping slowly, arms around. A boy who was no older than me, he shuffled his feet in silence in his gray cloak.**  
 **Charon said:**  
 **\- I wish you luck, partner, but it doesn't exist around here. Remember, be sure to mention my salary increase.**  
 **He counted our gold coins in his bag, then the stick. He chirped something that sounded like a Barry Manilow song as he pushed the barge back across the river.**  
 **We followed the spirits along a path that had already been traveled.**  
 **I'm not sure what I was expecting - the Gates of Heaven, a big, dark drawbridge or something. But the entrance to the Underworld seemed like a mix of airport security and the New Jersey highway.**  
 **There were three separate entrances under a huge black arch that said YOU ARE ENTERING EREBO. At each entrance there was a metal detector with security cameras installed at the top. After that, there were toll booths operated by spirits like Charon.**  
 **The howling of a hungry animal was now very loud, but I couldn't see where it was coming from. The three-headed dog, Cerberus, who was supposed to guard Hades' door, was nowhere to be seen.**  
 **The dead formed three lines, two identified as SERVICE ATTENDANT and one as ESPRESSA DEATH. The EXPRESS DEATH line was advancing non-stop. The other two were crawling.**  
 **\- What do you imagine? I asked Annabeth.**  
 **"The fast line must go directly to the Campos Asfódelos," she said. - No contestation. They do not want to risk the trial of the court, because it can go against them.**  
 **\- Is there a court for dead people?**  
 **\- Yes. Three judges. They take turns in the judiciary. King Minos, Thomas**  
 **Jefferson, Shakespeare ... people like that. Sometimes they look at a life and conclude that that person needs a special reward: the Champs Elysées. Sometimes they decide on a punishment. But most people, well, they just lived. Nothing special, neither good nor bad. Then they go to Campos Asfódelos.**  
 **\- And do what?**  
 **Grover said:**  
 **\- Imagine yourself in a wheat field in Kansas. Forever.**  
 **"Toughness," I said.**  
 **"Not as much as that," muttered Grover. - Look.**  
 **A pair of black robed figures had pulled a spirit aside and were searching it by the security table. The dead man's face looked vaguely familiar.**  
 **\- He's the preacher on the news, remember? Asked Grover.**  
 **"Ah, yes," I remembered. We had seen him on TV once or twice in the Yancy Academy dorm. He was a boring tele-evangelist from upstate New York who had raised millions of dollars for orphanages and was later caught spending money on items for his mansion, like gold-plated toilet seats and a mini golf course. He had died in a police chase when his "ble** ssed Lamborghini" fell off a cliff.

-You reap what you sow-Said Hephaestus-Deceiving innocents, stealing money.

- **What are you doing with him? - I asked.**  
 **"Hades' special punishment," Grover guessed. - Really bad people get particular attention from him when they arrive**

 **The Furies ... the Benevolents are going to prepare torture for him.**  
 **Thinking of the Furies made me shudder. I realized that at that moment I was in their territory. Old Mrs. Dodds must have been licking her lips in anticipation.**  
 **\- But if he is a preacher - I said - and believes in a different hell ...**  
 **Grover shrugged.**  
 **\- Who says he sees this place the same way we do? Human beings see what they want to see. You are very stubborn ... uh, persistent in that.**  
 **We got closer to the gates. The howls there were so loud that they shook the ground under my feet, but I still couldn't figure out where they were coming from. Then, about fifty feet in front of us, the green mist fluttered. Just where the path was divided into three was a huge, indistinct monster.**  
 **I hadn't seen him before because he was kind of transparent, like the dead. Until he moved, his image merged with whatever was behind him. Only the eyes and the teeth looked solid. He was looking at me.**  
 **My jaw dropped. All I could think to say was:**  
 **\- It's a rottweiler.**  
 **He had always imagined Cerberus as a big black mastiff. But he was obviously a purebred rottweiler, except, of course, for being twice the size of a mammoth, almost invisible and with three heads.**  
 **The dead walked towards him - without any fear. The rows of the ATTENDANT IN SERVICE signs separated, each to one side of the monster. The spirits of EXPRESS DEATH walked directly between the front legs and under the belly, which they could do without even bending down.**  
 **"I'm starting to see you better," I murmured. - I wonder why?**  
 **"I think ..." Annabeth moistened her lips. - I'm sorry, but I think it's because we're closer to being dead people.**  
 **The middle dog's head stretched out towards us. He sniffed the air and snarled.**  
 **"He can smell the living," I said.**  
 **"But it's okay," said Grover, trembling beside me. Because we have a plan.**  
 **"Okay," said Annabeth. I had never heard her voice sound so low. - A plan.**  
 **We move towards the monster. The middle head snarled at us, then barked so loudly that my pupils rattled.**  
 **\- Can you understand? I asked Grover.**  
 **"Ah, yes," he said. - I can understand.**  
 **\- What is he saying?**  
 **\- I do not believe that human beings have such a bad word.**  
 **I took a piece of wood from my backpack - a foot of the bed that I had pulled from a model on display at Crust, the Deluxe Safari. I held it up and tried to channel happy canine thoughts to Cerberus - food commercials, cute dogs, streetlights. I** t **ried to smile, as if I wasn't about to die.**  
 **"Hey, big boy," I shouted. - I bet they don't play much with you here.**

-Really? -Hestia said without believing-They will play with him. Dressage classes.

" **GRRRRRRRRRAUl"**  
 **"Good boy," I said, weakening.**  
 **I waved the baton. The dog's middle head followed the movement. The other two stared at me, completely ignoring the spirits. I had all the attention of Cerberus. I didn't really know if it was good.**  
 **\- Go get it! - I threw the bat into the shadows, a perfect throw. I heard the**  
 **tibum! in Estige.**  
 **Cerberus looked at me, fierce, unimpressed. The eyes were full of hate and cold. End of plan.**  
 **The monster now produced a new type of growl, deeper in its three throats.**  
 **"Er," said Grover. - Percy?**  
 **\- Yes?**  
 **\- I just thought you'd like to know.**  
 **\- Yes?**  
 **\- Cerberus ... He's saying we have ten seconds to pray to the god we choose. After that ... well ... he's hungry.**  
 **\- Wait! Said Annabeth. She started to rummage through her backpack.**  
 **Hey, I thought.**  
 **"Five seconds," said Grover. - Do we run now?**  
 **Annabeth came up with a red rubber ball the size of a grapefruit. The tag read AQUATIC WATER PARK AQUALÂNDIA - DENVER, COLORADO.**  
 **Before I could stop her, she lifted the ball and marched towards Cerberus. She shouted:**  
 **\- See the ball? Do you want the ball, Cerberus? Sit down!**  
 **Cerberus looked as bewildered as we were.**  
 **The three heads tilted sideways. Six nostrils flared.**  
 **\- Sit down! Cried Annabeth again.**  
 **I was sure that at any moment it would become the biggest dog biscuit in the world.**  
 **Instead, however, Cerberus licked his three pairs of lips, shook his ass and sat down, immediately crushing a dozen spirits that passed under him in the EXPRESS DEATH line. The spirits produced a muffled hiss as it dissipated, like air escaping from tires.**  
 **\- Good boy! Said Annabeth.**  
 **And he threw the ball at Cerberus. He grabbed it with the middle mouth. The ball was barely big enough for him to bite, and the other heads started moving forward in the middle, trying to get the new toy.**  
 **\- Drop! Ordered Annabeth.**

 **He let out a loud, scary cry, then dropped the ball, gooey and almost torn in half, at Annabeth's feet.**  
 **\- Good boy. - Annabeth took the ball, ignoring the monster drool.**  
 **She turned to us.**  
 **\- Go now. EXPRESS DEATH queue ... this one goes faster.**  
 **\- But ... - I argued.**  
 **\- Now! - she ordered, in the same tone she was using with the dog**.

Everyone laughed heartily.

**Grover and I moved slowly, cautiously. Cerberus started to growl.**   
**\- Stay! - Annabeth ordered the monster. - If you want the ball, stay!**   
**Cerberus yelped, but stayed where he was.**   
**\- Is that you? I asked Annabeth when we passed her.**   
**"I know what I'm doing, Percy," she murmured. - At least, I'm pretty sure ...**   
**Grover and I followed between the monster's legs.**   
**Please, Annabeth, I prayed. Don't tell him to sit down again.**   
**We made it through. Cerberus was no less frightening from behind.**   
**\- Good dog! Said Annabeth.**   
**She held up the shattered red ball and probably came to the same conclusion as me - if I rewarded Brain, there would be nothing left for another trick.**   
**Still, she threw the ball. The monster's left mouth grabbed it immediately, only to be attacked by the middle head while the right's head moaned in protest.**   
**While the monster was distracted, Annabeth marched energetically under his belly and joined us near the metal detector.**   
**\- How did you do that? - I asked, admired.**   
**"Dressage class," she said breathlessly, and I was surprised to see that there were tears in her eyes. - When I was little, at my father's house, we had a dobermann ...**   
**"It doesn't matter," said Grover, pulling on my shirt. - Let's go!**   
**We were about to shoot through the EXPRESS DEATH line when Cérbero groaned with pity, with all three mouths. Annabeth stopped.**   
**Cerberus was panting anxiously, the tiny red ball shattered in a pool of drool at his feet.**   
**"Good boy," said Annabeth, but her voice sounded melancholy and uncertain.**   
**The monster's heads bowed, as if he was worried about her.**   
**"I'll bring you a new ball soon," Annabeth promised uncertainly. - Do you want?**   
**The monster whined. I didn't need to speak a dog's tongue to know that Cerberus was still waiting for the ball.**   
**\- Good dog. I will soon visit you. I ... I promise. Annabeth turned to us. - Let's go.**

-We know she won't come back-Nemesis said-But it was a good gesture.

**Grover and I passed the metal detector, which immediately rang and flashed red lights.**   
**"Unauthorized belongings! Magic detected!"**   
**Cerberus began to bark.**   
**We launched ourselves through the EXPRESS DEATH gate, which set off even more alarms, and ran into the Underworld. A few minutes later, we were hiding, breathlessly, in the rotting trunk of an immense black tree, while the security spirits ran by, shouting for the Furies' help.**   
**Grover murmured:**   
**\- Well, Percy, what did we learn today?**   
**\- Which three-headed dogs prefer rubber balls to sticks?**   
**"No," said Grover. - We learned that your plans are very, very bad!**   
**I was not so sure. Perhaps it was the case that Annabeth and I had the right idea. Even there, in the Underworld, everyone - even the monsters - needs a little attention now and then.**

The gods were a little uncomfortable.  
-Percy is right-said Quiron wisely-They should change this old law, be more with their children. I have trained many heroes, and everyone said the same "If I am a great hero, my father will speak to me", "Only if I die, will I see my father," I hate the gods. You abandon him to die his luck. Think about it.

**I thought about it while we waited for the spirits to pass. I pretended that I didn't see Annabeth wipe away a tear when she heard Cerberus' sad lament in the distance, missing her new friend.**

  
**Cerberus' heads stopped fighting and looked at her. The ball was stuck between two of his teeth like a piece of gum.**


	21. Chapter 19

\- In a way, we discover the truth - Said Aphrodite - What a strange title, it is as if he was not happy to know the truth.

Imagine the largest gathering of people you have ever seen at a concert, a football field filled with a million fans. Now imagine a field a million times bigger, crowded, and imagine that the electricity has failed and there is no noise, no light, nor those giant balls bouncing over the crowd. Something tragic happened behind the scenes. A whispering mass of people just wander in the shadows without direction, waiting for a show that will never start. If you can imagine that, you have a good idea of what the Campos de Asfódelos are like.

  
-Bad, said Apollo.

  
The black grass had been trampled underfoot for ages. A warm, humid wind blew like the breath of a swamp. Black trees - Grover told me they were poplars - grew in groups here and there. The roof of the cave was so high above us that it could pass through a mass of storm clouds, except for the stalactites, which glowed a pale gray and looked wickedly pointed.

  
-Just to warn, they fall-said Athena.

  
I tried not to imagine that they could fall on us at any moment, but there were several of them splashed around, which fell and impaled themselves on the black grass. I think the dead didn't have to worry about small risks like being pricked by rocket-sized stalactites.

Annabeth, Grover and I tried to blend in with the crowd by keeping an eye on the security spirits. I could not help looking for familiar faces among the spirits of Asfódelos, but it is difficult to look at the dead. Their faces flutter. Everyone seems slightly angry or confused. They even see us and speak, but the voice sounds like shaking, like the hiss of bats. After they realize that you can't understand them, they turn away and walk away.

The dead are not scary. They are just sad.

-I don't know, because they fear death so much-Said Apollo-It should be a relief for them, to get out of this work life.

-The time will come, death turns no matter the customer. You can even hide and scream, but the funeral will not escape-Sang Hades.

We dragged ourselves along, following the line of newcomers that snaked from the main gates towards a big black tent with a banner that said: JUDGMENTS FOR ELISIO AND ETERNAL DANCING Welcome, Newly Deceased!

From the bottom of the tent came two much smaller lines. To the left, spirits flanked by evil security spirits marched along a rocky path towards the Punishment Fields, which glowed and smoked in the distance, a deserted and cracked expanse with rivers of lava and minefields, and kilometers of barbed wire separating the different areas of torture.

Even from afar, I could see people being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run naked through cactus fields or listen to opera music.

-Hey! I like opera-said Dionisio.

"You are a separate case," said Hermes.

I could just make out a tiny hill with the shape of the size of a Sisyphean ant struggling to push its rock to the top. I also saw worse tortures - things I don't even want to describe. The line coming from the right side of the trial pavilion was much better. It overlooked a small walled valley - a community with gates, which seemed to be the only happy part of the Underworld. In addition to the security gate, there were beautiful houses from all periods of history, Roman villages, medieval castles and Victorian mansions. Silver and gold flowers bloomed in the fields. The grass rippled in the colors of the rainbow. You could hear the laughter and smell the barbecue.  
Elísio.  
In the middle of that valley was a brilliant blue lake, with three small islands as a leisure hotel in the Bahamas. The Blessed Islands, for people who chose to be reborn three times, and three times conquered Elysium. I knew at once that I wanted to go there when I died.

  
"It's every hero's wish," said Hecate dreamily.

"That's right," said Annabeth, as if reading my thoughts. - This is the place for heroes.

But I realized how few people there were in Elysium, how tiny it was compared to the Campos de Asfódelos or even the Campos da Punição. Therefore, few people got along in their lives. It was depressing. We left the trials pavilion and went deeper into the Campos de Asfódelos. It got darker. The colors drained from our clothes. The crowds of chattering spirits began to thin out. After a few kilometers of walking, we started to hear familiar squeaks in the distance. Looming far away was a palace of brilliant black obsidian. Above the ramparts swirled three dark bat-like creatures: the Furies. I had the feeling that they were waiting for us.

-Really Sherlock? -Zipped Nemesis.

\- Maybe it's too late to go back

Said Grover sadly.

\- Will be all right. - I tried to look confident.

"Maybe we should look in some of the other places first," suggested Grover. - Like EIísio, for example ...

\- Come on, goat boy. Annabeth grabbed his arm.

Grover yelped. His sneakers created wings and his legs jumped forward, pulling him away from Annabeth. He landed on his back on the grass.

"Grover," Annabeth scolded. - Stop messing around.

\- But I don't ... - He yelped again. The sneakers were now flapping like crazy.

  
-They are out of control-Hermes said, his eyebrow arched-But they are perfect !.

  
They levitated off the ground and started to drag him away from us. - Maia! He shouted, but the magic word seemed to have no effect. - Maia, right now! One-nine-zero! Help!

I recovered from my bewilderment and tried to grab Grover's hand, but it was too late. He was picking up speed, sliding down the hill like a sled. We ran after him. Annabeth shouted:

\- Untie your sneakers!

It was a smart idea, but I think that is not so easy when your shoes are dragging you forward at full speed. Grover tried to sit up, but was unable to reach the laces. We continued to run after him, trying to keep him in sight while I ran through the legs of the spirits who chattered at him, bored. I was sure Grover would pass straight through the gates of Hades' palace, but suddenly the sneakers dodged to the right and dragged him in the opposite direction.

  
"I hope he doesn't go to the place I'm thinking about," said Poseidon.

  
The slope became steeper. Grover picked up speed. Annabeth and I had to run full speed to keep up with him. The cave walls narrowed on both sides, and I realized that we were entering some kind of side tunnel. There was no more black grass or trees, just stones underfoot, and the pale light from the stalactites above.

\- Grover! I shouted, my voice reverberating. - Hold something!

\- What? He shouted back.

He was grabbing at the boulders, but there was nothing big enough to slow him down. The tunnel became darker and colder. The hairs on my arms stood on end. The smell down there made me sick. It made me think of things I shouldn't even know - blood spilled over an old stone altar, the smelly breath of a murderer. Then I saw what was in front of us and suddenly I stopped. The tunnel widened into a huge dark cave, and in the middle was an abyss the size of a city block. Grover was sliding straight over the edge.

\- Come on, Percy! Cried Annabeth, pulling on my wrist.

\- But that ...

  
"It's the entrance to Tartarus," said Zeus-bastard.

  
\- I know! She shouted. - The place you described in your dream! But Grover will fall if we don't catch him.

She was right, of course. Grover's plight made me move again. He was screaming, scratching the ground, but the winged sneakers continued to drag him towards the pit, and it didn't seem possible to get to him in time. What saved him were his hooves. Flying sneakers have always been loose in it, and when Grover hit a big rock, his left sneaker flew off and shot into the darkness, abyss below. The right shoe continued to pull him, but not so quickly. Grover managed to slow down by grabbing the big stone and using it as an anchor. It was ten feet from the edge of the chasm when we took it and pulled it back up the hill.

  
-After that, he will be forever grateful, for being a Satyr, said Artemis.

The other winged sneakers came off, circled us furiously and kicked our heads in protest before flying into the abyss to join their partner. We all collapsed exhausted over the obsidian boulders. My limbs looked like they were made of lead. Even my backpack felt heavier, as if someone had filled it with stones. Grover was badly scratched. His hands were bleeding. The pupils of his eyes became slits, in the style of the goats as they always did when he was terrified.

"I don't know how ..." he gasped. - I do not...

"Wait," I said. - Listen. - I had heard something. A deep whisper in the darkness.

  
"Don't listen to what he says!"

A few more seconds, and Annabeth said:

\- Percy, this place ...

\- Shh. - I stood up. The sound was getting louder, a murmuring, malevolent voice, coming from far, far below us. Coming from the abyss. Grover sat down.

\- O ... what is that noise?

Now Annabeth had heard, too. I could see it in your eyes.

\- Tartar. Entrance to Tartarus.

I uncovered Anaklusmos. The bronze sword expanded, glowing in the dark, and the evil voice seemed to falter, just for a moment, before resuming its singing. Now I could almost make out words, words very, very old, even older than Greek. As if...  
"Magic," I said.

"We have to get out of here," said Annabeth.

Together, we dragged Grover over the hooves and started back through the tunnel. My legs were not moving fast enough. My backpack weighed. The voice got louder and angrier behind us, and we started running. Right in time. A cold gust of wind inhaled us from behind, as if the entire chasm was inhaling. For a terrifying moment I lost control, and my feet started to slip on the boulders. If we were closer to the edge, we would have been sucked in. We continued pushing forward and finally reached the top of the tunnel, where the cave opened onto the Campos de Asfódelos. The wind stopped. A wail of indignation echoed in the background. Something was not happy that we escaped.

\- What was that? - Grover gasped when we collapsed in the relative safety of a forest of black poplars - One of Hades' pets?

Annabeth and I looked at each other. I could see that she had an idea, probably the same idea she had during the taxi ride to Los Angeles, but I was too terrified to share it with me. That was enough to terrify me. I put the cap on my sword, put the pen back in my pocket.

\- Let's go. - I looked at Grover. - Can you walk?

He swallowed.

\- Yes for sure. I never really liked those shoes at all.

He tried to appear brave, but he was shaking as much as Annabeth and me. Whatever was in that chasm, it was nobody's pet. It was visibly old and powerful. Even Echidna hadn't given me that feeling. I was almost relieved to turn my back on that tunnel and head for Hades' palace. Almost.

The Furies surrounded the ramparts, high up in the darkness. The outer walls of the fortress glowed black and the bronze gates two stories high were wide open.

Up close, I saw that the recordings at the gates were death scenes. Some from modern times - an atomic bomb exploding over a city, a trench full of soldiers wearing gas masks, a line of starving Africans waiting with empty bowls - but they all seemed to have been engraved in bronze thousands of years ago. I wondered if I was looking at prophecies that have come true. Inside the courtyard was the strangest garden I have ever seen. Multicolored mushrooms, poisonous shrubs, and ghostly luminous plants grew without sunlight. Precious gems made up for the lack of flowers, piles of rubies as big as my fist, clusters of rough diamonds. Here and there, as guests at a party that were frozen, there were Medusa's garden statues - children, satyrs and petrified centaurs - all grotesquely smiling. In the center of the garden was an orchard of pomegranates, their orange flowers glowing like neon in the dark.

"I love my pomegranates," said Persephone.

"Persephone's garden," said Annabeth. - Keep walking.

I understood why she wanted to keep walking. The sour smell of those pomegranates was almost overwhelming. I had a sudden desire to eat them, but then I remembered Persephone's story. One bite of food from the Underworld and we could never leave. I pulled Grover away to prevent him from picking one, large and juicy. We climbed the palace steps, between black columns, through a black marble porch, into Hades' house. The hall had a polished bronze floor that seemed to boil in the reflected light from the torches. There was no roof, just the roof of the cave far above. I don't think they ever had to worry about rain down here. All the side doors were guarded by a skeleton in military clothing. Some wore Greek armor, others, English uniforms in red jackets, and there were also those who wore camouflage clothing with American flags tattered on their shoulders. They carried spears, muskets or rifles. None of them bothered us, but their hollow orbits followed us as we walked through the hall towards the large set of doors at the opposite end.

Two skeletons of American marines guarded the doors. They smiled at us, with grenade launchers across the chest.

-I'm going to receive them, so nobody stopped them. I want to see how far it goes, ”said Hades.

"You know what," muttered Grover, "I bet Hades has no problem dispatching door-to-door salespeople."  
My backpack now weighed a ton. I couldn't imagine why.

"It can only be the master ray," said Hera.

I wanted to open it, see if I had picked up a lost bowling ball, but this was not the time.

"Well, people," he said. - I think we should ... knock?

A hot wind blew down the hall and the doors opened. The guards took a step to the side.

"I think that means entrez-vous," said Annabeth. Inside the room was just like in my dream, only this time Hades' throne

I was busy. It was the third god I knew, but the first that really impressed me as a god. To begin with, he was at least ten feet tall, and wore black silk robes and a braided gold crown. His skin was white as an albino's, his hair long to the shoulders was jet black. He wasn't as big as Ares, but he exuded strength. He reclined on his throne of fused human bones, looking supple, elegant, and dangerous as a panther.

"Panther," Hades repeated, as if he tasted the word.

At the same moment I had the feeling that he should give the orders. I knew more than I did. I should be my master. So I told myself to get out. Hades' aura was affecting me, just as it was with Ares. The Lord of the Dead recalled portraits I had seen of Adolf Hitler, or Napoleon, or of the terrorist leaders who control the suicide bombers. Hades had the same intense look, the same kind of mesmerizing and evil charisma.

"You are brave to come here, Son of Poseidon," he said in an unctuous voice. - After what you did to me, you are very brave, no doubt. Or maybe he's just too silly.

Numbness crept into my joints, tempting me to lie down and take a short nap at Hades' feet. I wanted to curl up there and sleep forever. I fought the sensation and took a step forward. I knew what I had to say.

\- Sir and uncle, I bring two orders.

-Not even a little demanding-Said Artemis-And bold.

Hades raised an eyebrow. When he reached the front on his throne, dark faces appeared in the folds of his black robes, faces tormented, as if the costume were made of souls from the Fields of Punishment caught trying to escape, sewn together. My attention deficit disorder portion wondered if the rest of his clothes were done the same way. What horrible things would anyone have to do in life to deserve to be part of Hades' underwear?

\- Just two orders? Said Hades. - Arrogant child. As if you haven't already received enough. Speak, then. I find it fun to wait a while to strike you down.

I swallowed. It was doing more or less as well as I feared. I glanced at the smaller, empty throne, next to Hades'. It was shaped like a black flower, decorated in gold. I wished that Queen Persephone was there. I remembered something in the myths about how she could calm her husband's moods. But it was summer. It is clear that Persephone would be above in the world of light with mother, the goddess of agriculture, Demeter. His visits, not the tilt of the planet, created the seasons. Annabeth cleared her throat. His finger poked me in the back.

"Lord Hades," I said. - Look, sir, there cannot be a war between the gods. That would be ... bad.

"Really bad," added Grover, wanting to help. "Return Zeus's master ray to me," I said. - Please, sir, let me take you to Olympus.

-That must have been so weird. One thinks he has the other, ”said Hecate.

Hades' eyes flashed dangerously.

\- Do you dare to continue with this farce, after all you've done?

I took a look at my friends behind me. They looked as confused as I was.

\- Er ... uncle - I said. - You keep saying "after all you've done". What exactly did I do?

The throne room trembled so hard that the impact was probably felt up there in Los Angeles. Rock fragments fell from the cave's ceiling. Doors swung open on every wall, and skeletal warriors marched in, hundreds of them, from all ages and nations of Western civilization. They lined up in the four corners of the room, blocking the exits. Hades howled:  
\- Do you think I want war, son of god?

I wanted to say, Well, these guys don't look much like peace activists. But I thought it could be a dangerous answer.

"You are the Lord of the Dead," I said cautiously. - A war would expand your kingdom, right?

-My kingdom is already prosperous. And for what? To get more work? -Hades said-Just because I am the god of the dead, do I have to be in favor of wars? Save me !.

  
\- It is very characteristic of my brothers to say such a thing! Do you think I need more subjects? Can't you see the greatness of the Asphodelos Fields?  
\- Good...

\- Do you have any idea how much my kingdom has swelled in the last century, how many subdivisions did I have to create? - I opened my mouth to reply, but Hades was now packed. - More security spirits - he complained. - Traffic problems in the judgment hall. Double overtime for staff. I was a rich god, Percy Jackson. I control all the precious metals underground. But my expenses!  
"Charon wants a pay rise," I said, just remembering the fact. As soon as I spoke, I thought I had lost a great chance of being silent.

\- Don't talk to me about Charon! Shouted Hades. - He's been impossible since he discovered the Italian suits! Problems everywhere, and I have to deal with them all personally. The travel time between the palace and the gates is enough to drive me insane! And the dead keep coming. No, child of god, I don't need help to get subjects! I didn't ask for this war.

\- But you got Zeus's master ray.

\- Lies! - More bangs. Hades rose from the throne, rising to the height of a football goal. - Your father can fool Zeus, boy, but I'm not that stupid. I see his plan.

\- His plan?

"You were the thief on the winter solstice," he said. - Your father thought of keeping it as his little secret. He sent him to the throne room at Olympus. You took the master ray and my helmet

-Percy wasn't even there-Poseidon counters.

. If I hadn't sent my Fury to find out at the Yancy Academy, Poseidon might have been able to hide the plan to start a war. But now you have been forced to appear. You will be exposed as the thief of Poseidon, and I will have my helmet back!

-So he really disappeared.

"But ..." said Annabeth. I could see that her head was at a million kilometers an hour. - Lord Hades, did your helmet of darkness also disappear?

\- Don't play the innocent with me, girl. You and the satyr have been helping this hero, who has come here to undoubtedly threaten me on behalf of Poseidon, to bring me an ultimatum. Does Poseidon think I can be blackmailed to support him?

\- No! - I said. - Not Poseidon ... I don't ...

"I didn't say anything about the helmet's disappearance," snarled Hades, "because I'm not under any illusions that someone on Olympus will do me justice, give me any help." I cannot allow the news to leak that my most powerful weapon is missing. So I looked for you myself, and when it became clear that you were coming to me to make your threat, I didn't try to stop you.

\- Didn't you try to stop us? But...

"Give me back my helmet now, or I will interrupt death," Hades threatened. - This is my counter proposal. I will open the land and send the dead to pour back into your world. I will turn your lands into a nightmare. And you, Percy Jackson ... your skeleton will lead my army out of Hades. All the skeletal soldiers stepped forward, weapons ready.

By now, I should have been terrified. The strange thing was that I was offended. Nothing makes me more angry than being accused of something I didn't do. I had had a lot of experience with that.

"You are as bad as Zeus," I said. - Do you think I stole you? Is that why you sent the Furies after me?

"Of course," said Hades.

\- What about the other monsters? Hades pursed his lip.

\- I had nothing to do with them. I didn't want a quick death for you; I wanted you before me, alive, to face all the torture in the Fields of Punishment. Why do you think I let you into my kingdom so easily?

"So, the hellhound you summoned at the camp, wasn't it on your order?" Demeter asked.

\- Easily?

\- Give me back what belongs to me!

\- But I don't have your helmet. I came to get the master ray.

\- That you already own! Cried Hades. - You came here with him, little idiot, thinking you could threaten me!

\- Is not true!

\- Then open your backpack.

A horrible thought came over me. The weight of my backpack, like a bowling ball ... It couldn't be ... I took the backpack off my shoulders and unzipped it. Inside was a metal cylinder two feet long, with a tip on each side, buzzing with energy.

"Percy," said Annabeth. - How...

\- I ... I don't know. Do not understand.

"You heroes are always the same," said Hades. "Your pride makes you foolish, thinking you can bring a weapon like that before me." I didn't ask for Zeus's lightning bolt, but since he's here, you'll hand him over to me. I'm sure it will be an excellent bargaining tool. And now ... my helmet. Where is it?

I was speechless. I had no helmet. I had no idea how the master ray ended up in my backpack. I wanted to think that Hades was up to some kind of trick. Hades was the villain. But suddenly the world will turn aside. I realized it had been used. Someone had made Zeus, Poseidon and Hades want each other's skull. The master ray was in my backpack, and I had received the backpack from ...  
Lord Hades, wait, ”I said. - This is all a mistake.

\- A mistake? Roared Hades. The skeletons aimed their weapons. Overhead there was a flap of leathery wings, and the three Furies flew down to perch on the back of their lord's throne. The one with Mrs. Dodds' features gave me an avid smile and cracked her whip. "There is no mistake," said Hades. - I know why you came, and I know the real reason why you brought the lightning. You came to negotiate for her.  
Hades dropped a golden fireball from the palm of his hand

it exploded on the steps in front of me, and there was my mother frozen in a golden shower, just as at the moment the Minotaur started to squeeze her to death. I couldn't speak. I reached out to touch it, but the light was warm as a fire.

"Yes," said Hades with satisfaction. - I took it. I knew, Percy Jackson, that you would finally come to bargain with me. Give me back my helmet, and maybe I'll let you go. She is not dead, you know. Not yet. But, if you displease me, that will change.

I thought of the pearls in my pocket. Maybe they could get away with it. If only I could free my mother ...

-Wait just three, and they are four-Poseidon noticed-I can't believe I did that stupidity.

"Ah, the pearls," said Hades, and my blood ran cold. - Yes my brother and his little tricks. Introduce them, Percy Jackson. My hand moved against my will and I presented the pearls. "Only three," said Hades. - What a shame. You know that each one protects only one person. Try to take your mother, then baby of god. And which of your friends will you leave behind to spend eternity with me? Go ahead. Choice. Or give me the backpack and accept my conditions.

I looked at Annabeth and Grover. Their expressions were grim.

"We were deceived," I told them. - Caught in a trap.

\- Yes but why? Asked Annabeth. - And the voice in the abyss ...

"I don't know yet," I said. - But I intend to ask.

\- Decide, boy! Shouted Hades.

"Percy." Grover put a hand on my shoulder. - You can't give him the lightning.

\- I know that.

"Leave me here," he said. - Use the third pearl for your mother.

\- No!

"I'm a satyr," said Grover. - We don't have souls like human beings. He can torture me to death, but he won't be with me forever. I will be reincarnated in a flower, or something else. It's the best way.

"No." Annabeth pulled out her bronze knife. - You two continue. Grover, you have to protect Percy. You have to get your search engine license and start your quest with Pan. Get his mother out of here. I will cover you. I plan to fall fighting.

"No way," said Grover. - I'll stay behind.

"Think again, goat boy," said Annabeth.

\- Stop, you two! - It was like my heart was being torn in half. They both went through so much with me. I remembered Grover bombing the jellyfish in the garden of statues, and Annabeth saving us from Cerberus; we survived the Hephaestus Water Park, the St. Louis Arch, the Lotus Casino. I spent thousands of miles worried because I would be betrayed by a friend, but those friends would never do that. They did nothing but save me, over and over again, and now they wanted to sacrifice their lives for my mother.

"I know what to do," I said. - Hold this. I gave each one a pearl.

Annabeth said:

\- But, Percy ...

I turned and faced my mother. I desperately wanted to sacrifice myself and use the last pearl for her, but I knew what she was going to say. She would never allow that.

"Is he going to leave his mother?" Hades said in surprise.

I had to take the lightning back to Olympus and tell Zeus the truth. I had to stop the war. She would never forgive me if I saved her instead. I thought of the prophecy made at Hill Half-Blood, which seemed to have been a million years ago. In the end, you won't be able to save what matters most.

"Sorry," I told her. - I'll be back. I'll find a way.

The smug expression on Hades' face faded. He said:

\- Cub of god ...?

"I'm going to find your helmet, Uncle," I told him. - I will return it. Remember Charon's salary increase.

\- Do not challenge me...

"And it wouldn't hurt to play with Cerberus now and then." He likes red rubber balls.  
\- Percy Jackson, you will not ...

I screamed:

\- Now!

We crush the pearls at our feet. For a terrifying moment, nothing happened.

Hades shouted:

\- Destroy them!  
The army of skeletons advanced, swords drawn and rifles drawn in fully automatic mode. The Furies dove, the whips bursting into flames. Just when the skeletons opened fire, the fragments; of pearl at my feet exploded in green light and a gust of fresh sea air. I was encapsulated in a milky white sphere that was beginning to float off the ground. Annabeth and Grover were right behind me. Spears and bullets bounced harmlessly in the pearl bubbles as we floated upwards. Hades screamed with such rage that the entire fortress rocked and I knew it wouldn't be a quiet night in Los Angeles.  
\- Look up! Shouted Grover. - Let's beat!

Without a doubt, we were heading straight for the stalactites, which I thought would burst our bubbles and stick us.  
\- How do you control these things? Cried Annabeth.

\- I don't think you can control yourself! I shouted back.

We screamed when the bubbles hit the ceiling and ... Darkness. Were we dead?

No, I still had a feeling of speed. We were going up, through the solid rock, as easily as an air bubble in the water. That was the power of pearls, I realized - what belongs to the sea will always return to the sea.

  
-You are welcome-Said Poseidon-The idea was mine to create them.

  
For a few moments, I saw nothing but the smooth walls of my sphere, then my pearl broke out at the bottom of the ocean. The other two milky spheres, Annabeth and Grover, followed me as we shot upward through the water. And ... pimba! We explode on the surface, in the middle of Santa Monica Bay, throwing a surfer off his board with an indignant "Hey, man!" I grabbed Grover and dragged him over to a lifebuoy. I took Annabeth and dragged her too. A curious shark circled us, a great white shark about three and a half meters long.

I said:

\- Get out! The shark turned and hurried away. The surfer shouted something about spoiled mushrooms and scampered away from us as fast as he could. Somehow, I knew what time it was: early morning, June 21, the day of the summer solstice. In the distance, Los Angeles was on fire, clouds of smoke rising from neighborhoods across the city. There had certainly been an earthquake, and it was Hades' fault. I was probably sending an army of the dead after me right now. But at that time, the Underworld was not my biggest problem. I had to get to the beach. He had to take Zeus' lightning back to Olympus. Most of all, I needed to have a serious conversation with the god who had deceived me.

  
-Be quiet, it will not free you Ares-Said Zeus-And I insist that you read the next one. And I hope Percy finishes you off.

\- That boy won't make it. What chances does he have to stop this war? To stop me? ”Ares spat.


	22. Chapter 20

\- The fight against my stupid relative-Leu Ares with his teeth  
Half closed.

A Coast Guard boat picked us up, but they were too busy to stay with us for long, or to wonder why three children in casual clothes ended up in the middle of the bay. There was a disaster to take care of. Their radios were clogged with emergency calls. They dropped us off at Santa Monica Pier with towels around their shoulders and water bottles that said I AM A COAST GUARDIAN! and left in a hurry to save more people. Our clothes were soaked, including mine. When the Coast Guard boat appeared, I quietly begged them not to take me out of the water and find me perfectly dry, which would have caused some eyebrows to rise.

"They would think that Percy is an alien," said Aphrodite, amused.

So I wanted to be soaked. No doubt, my waterproof magic had abandoned me. I was also barefoot, because I had given my shoes to Grover. The Coast Guard had better ask themselves why one of us was barefoot than to ask why one of us had hooves. After reaching the mainland, we staggered along the beach watching the city burn against a beautiful sunset. It was as if he had just returned from the world of the dead - which was true. My backpack was heavy, with Zeus's master beam. My heart was even heavier from seeing my mother.

"I don't believe it," said Annabeth. - We went through all that and ...  
"It was a trick," I said. - A strategy worthy of Athena.  
"Hey," he said.  
\- You understand, don't you?  
She looked down, the anger withered.  
\- Yes, I understood.  
\- Well, I didn't understand! Complained Grover. - Could someone ...

-Grover is me, when I don't understand any joke-Said Hermes.

"Percy ..." said Annabeth. - I'm sorry for your mother. I'm so sorry ...  
I said I wasn't listening. If I talked about my mother, I would start to cry like a little child.  
"The prophecy was right," I said. - You must go west, and face the god who has become disloyal. But it was not Hades. Hades did not want war between the Big Three. Someone else executed stole it. Someone stole Zeus 'master ray, and Hades' helmet, and plotted against me because I am Poseidon's son. Poseidon will be blamed on both sides. At sunset today, there will be a triple war. And I will have caused it.  
Grover shook his head, bewildered.  
\- But who would be so fake? Who would want such a bad war?

I stopped abruptly, looking at the beach.  
\- Wow, let me think.  
There he was, waiting for us, in his black leather jacket and sunglasses, an aluminum baseball bat on his shoulder. The motorcycle rumbled beside him, the headlight turning red sand.

-How dare you? -Athena said.

"Hey, kid," said Ares, looking genuinely pleased to see me. - You should be dead.  
"You tricked me," I said. - You stole the helmet and the master ray.  
Ares smiled broadly.  
\- Well, but I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking symbols of power from each other, no-no-no, this is unacceptable. But you are not the only hero in the world who can run errands.  
\- Who did you use? Clarisse? She was there on the winter solstice.  
The idea seemed to amuse him.  
\- Does not matter. The point, boy, is that you are preventing the war effort. Understand, you must die in the Underworld.

-For me to fight with Hades-Said Poseidon

So Old Seaweed will be furious with Hades for killing him. Corpse's breath will take Zeus's master ray, and so Zeus will be furious with him. And Hades is still looking for this ...  
He took a ski hood from his pocket - the kind that bank robbers use - and placed it in the middle of the handlebars of his motorcycle. The hood immediately became an elaborate bronze war helmet.  
"The helmet of darkness," gasped Grover.  
"Exactly," said Ares. - But where exactly was I? Ah yes, Hades will be furious with both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. Soon we will have a beautiful triple tap in progress.  
\- But they are your family! Protested Annabeth.  
Ares shrugged.  
\- The best kind of war. Always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say.  
"You gave me the backpack in Denver," I said. - The master ray was there all the time.  
"Yes and no," said Ares. - It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the sheath of the master ray, just a little adapted. The lightning is connected to it, like that sword of yours, boy. It always goes back to your pocket, right?  
I wasn't sure how Ares knew this, but I think a war god needs to try to know everything about weapons.

-Your weapon has an old and sad history-Said Artemis-It is a weight that you will carry forever.

"Anyway," continued Ares, "I modified the spell a little, so that the lightning would only return to its sheath after you reached the Underworld." It came close to Hades ... Bingo! You have received an email. If you died on the way, there would be no loss. I would still have the gun.  
\- But why didn't you just keep the lightning for yourself? - I said. - Why send him to Hades?  
Ares's chin tightened. For a moment, it was almost as if he was hearing another voice, deep in the head.

-You let him control you. Corrupted for Cronos - Said Zeus in shock.

\- Why don't I ... yes ... with that kind of firepower ...  
He held the trance for a second ... two seconds ... I exchanged nervous looks with Annabeth. Ares's face cleared.  
\- Because I didn't want to have any problems. You better be caught in the act, holding the thing.  
"You're lying," I said. - Sending the lightning to the Underworld was not your idea, was it?  
\- Of course it was! Smoke escaped from under his sunglasses, as if they were about to catch fire.  
"You didn't order the theft," I guessed. - Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. So, when Zeus sent you to hunt him, you caught the thief. But you didn't give it to Zeus. Something convinced him to let him go.

-Chronos was visiting a demigod in a dream, and that demigod was on the winter solstice, and Cronos told him to steal the lightning and the master-Said Hera-And you Ares took the demigod and joined him. Why are you an idiot.

You saved the items until another hero could come and complete the delivery. That thing in the abyss is giving you orders.  
\- I am the god of war! I don't take orders from anyone! I have no dreams!  
I hesitated.  
\- Who said anything about dreams?  
Ares looked agitated, but tried to cover it up with a forced smile.  
\- Let's get back to the problem at hand, boy. Are you alive. I can't let you take that lightning to Olympus. You may be able to convince those stubborn idiots to hear you. So I need to kill him. It's nothing personal.  
He snapped his fingers. The sand exploded at his feet and a ferocious boar appeared, even bigger and uglier than the one whose head hung above the door of Cottage 5 of Camp Half-Blood.

-Did you think I would personally fight him? - Ares said laughing - He doesn't deserve it.

The beast dug into the sand, looking furiously at me with small, shiny eyes as it lowered razor-sharp fangs and waited for the order to kill. I entered the surf.  
\- Face me yourself, Ares.  
He laughed, but I heard a little tension in his laugh ... a little embarrassment.  
\- You only have one talent, boy, which is to run away. You ran away from Chimera. You ran away from the Underworld. You don't have the courage to face me.  
\- Afraid?  
\- Only in your teenage dreams. - But his sunglasses were starting to melt with the heat of his eyes. - No direct involvement. I'm sorry, boy. You are not at my level.  
Annabeth said:  
\- Percy, run!  
The giant boar attacked. But I was tired of running from monsters. Or Hades, or Ares, or anyone. When the boar charged at me, I uncapped my pen and stepped aside. Countercurrent appeared in my hands. I hit it up. The boar's severed right prey fell at my feet, while the disoriented animal charged against the sea. I screamed:  
\- Wave! Immediately a wave came out of nowhere and engulfed the boar, wrapping itself around him like a blanket. The beast screeched once, terrified. And then it was gone, swallowed up by the sea.

-How to take candy from a child-Said Hades-What's the next Ares? Lion? .  
Poseidon leaned back on his throne, looking at Ares smiling.  
-A stupid demigod is facing you. And that demigod is my son, Percy Jackson. Keep that name well.

I turned back to Ares.  
\- Will you fight me now? - I asked. "Or are you going to hide again behind a pet pig?"  
Ares's face was purple with anger.  
\- Take care, boy. I could turn you into ...  
"A cockroach," I said. - Or a worm. Yes I'm sure. That would save you from having your divine leather whipped, wouldn't it?

"Impertinent," Apollo repeated.

Flames danced over his glasses.  
\- Ah, you're really asking to be crushed to a puddle of fat.  
\- If I lose, make me what you want. Keep the lightning. If I win, the helmet and the beam are mine, and you have to go.  
Ares looked at me with a scornful expression. He brandished the baseball bat he wore over his shoulder.  
\- How would you like to be crushed: classic or modern mode? - I showed you my sword. "Cool, dead boy," he said. - Classic mode then.  
The baseball bat turned into a huge two-handed sword. The guard was a large silver skull with a ruby in its mouth.  
"Percy," said Annabeth. - Do not do it. He's a god.  
"He's a coward," I said to her.  
She swallowed.  
\- Use this at least. For luck. - She took off her necklace with five years of camping beads and her father's ring and put it around my neck. "Reconciliation," she said. - Athena and Poseidon together. My face got a little hot, but I managed to smile.

\- Thanks.  
"And take this," said Grover.  
He handed me a flattened can that looked like it had been in his pocket a thousand kilometers.  
\- Satyrs support you.  
\- Grover ... I don't know what to say.

-A can? -Dionísio said -I can't stand seeing cans anymore, I want to see glasses. Wine

He patted me on the shoulder. I stuffed the can into my back pocket.  
\- Have you said goodbye yet? Ares came towards me, the long black leather coat trailing behind him, the sword sparkling like fire at sunrise. - I've been fighting for an eternity, boy. My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What's wrong with you?

"Courage and intelligence," said Hephaestus, "I couldn't catch you, but Percy will avenge me."

A smaller ego, I thought, but said nothing. I kept my feet in the surf, backing up to the ankles in the water. I thought about what Annabeth had said at the Denver restaurant so long ago: Ares has strength. It's all he has. Even strength sometimes has to bow to wisdom.  
He dropped the sword, trying to split my head in half, but I wasn't there. My body was thinking for me.

"Your body was made to fight," said Hecate.

The water seemed to push me into the air and I launched myself at him, slashing to the side with the sword as I descended. But Ares was just as fast. He twisted his body and the blow that should have caught him directly on the spine was deflected out by the guard of his sword. He smiled.  
\- Not bad, not bad.  
He attacked again and I was forced to jump onto dry land. I tried to step aside, to get back to the water, but Ares seemed to know what I wanted. He was more skilled, putting so much pressure on me that I had to concentrate fully on not being cut into pieces. I continued to retreat away from the surf. I couldn't find any opening to attack. His sword's reach was far greater than that of Anaklusmos. Get up close, Luke had told me once, in our fencing class. When your blade is the shortest, get close. I moved forward with a lunge, but Ares was waiting for it. He snatched the sword out of my hands and kicked me in the chest. I went flying - five, maybe ten meters. I would have broken my back if it hadn't collapsed on the soft sand of a dune.

-And I'm just warming up-Said the god of war.

\- Percy! Cried Annabeth. - Police!  
I was seeing everything folded. It felt like my chest had been hit by a battering ram, but I managed to get to my feet. I couldn't take my eyes off Ares for fear that he would cut me in half, but out of the corner of my eye I saw the red lights flashing on the waterfront promenade. Car doors slammed.  
\- Over there, guard! Someone shouted. - See?  
A policeman's harsh voice:  
\- It looks like that TV kid ... what the hell ...  
"That guy is armed," said another police officer. - Ask for backup.  
I rolled to the side and Ares's blade sliced through the sand. I ran to my sword, picked it up and struck Ares in the face, only to see my blade deflected again. Ares seemed to know exactly what I was going to do a moment before. I stepped back into the surf, forcing him to follow me.  
"Admit it, boy," said Ares. - You are lost. I'm just playing with you.  
My senses were working overtime. I now understood what Annabeth had said about how attention deficit disorder can keep you alive in the battle. I was wide awake, noticing every little detail. I could see where Ares was tensing. I could tell which side I was going to attack. At the same time, I was aware of Annabeth and Grover, ten meters to my left. I saw a second car stop, the siren howling.  
Spectators, people who roamed the streets because of the earthquake, began to gather.  
In the middle of the crowd, I thought I saw some walking with that strange trot of disguised satyrs. There were also glowing figures of spirits, as if the dead had risen from Hades to watch the battle. I heard the flapping of leathery wings circling somewhere above.

"I must have sent you after Percy," said Hades. "You will see him fighting Ares."

More sirens. I advanced further into the water, but Ares was quick. The tip of his sword tore at the sleeve of my clothing and brushed my forearm. A policeman's voice on the megaphone said:  
\- Drop the shotguns! Put it in the sand. Now!  
Rifles? I looked at Ares's gun, and it seemed to be flickering; sometimes it looked like a shotgun, sometimes a two-handed sword. I didn't know what human beings were seeing in my hands, but I was sure I wouldn't make them like me.  
Ares turned to look fiercely at our viewers, which gave me a moment to breathe. There were five police cars now, and a line of policemen crouched behind them, with pistols aimed at us.  
\- This is a private matter! Shouted Ares. - Go away!  
He made a circular motion with his hand, and a wall of red flames passed through the vehicles. The police barely had time to dive for cover before the cars exploded. The crowd screeched away. Ares roared with laughter.  
\- Now, little hero. We'll add you to the barbecue.  
He struck. I dodged the blade. I came close enough to attack, tried to trick him with a swing, but my blow was rejected. The waves were now hitting me in the back. Ares was dove to the thighs, advancing after me. I felt the rhythm of the sea, the waves getting bigger as the tide progressed, and suddenly I had an idea. Small waves, I thought. And the water behind me seemed to recede. I was holding back the tide with the strength of my will, but the tension was building up, like carbon dioxide behind a cork.

-Intelligent-Athena was surprised.  
"Brilliant," said Poseidon proudly.

Ares stepped forward, smiling confidently. I lowered my blade, as if I was too exhausted to proceed. Wait, I said to the sea. The pressure was now almost lifting me over my feet. Ares raised his sword. I released the tide and jumped, rising like a rocket on a wave, passing directly over Ares. A two-meter wall of water hit him full in the face, and he kept cursing and spitting with his mouth full of seaweed.

The gods began to laugh contentedly.

I landed behind him, splashing water, and simulated an attack towards his head, as I had already done. He turned in time to raise his sword, but this time he was disoriented and did not foresee the trick. I changed direction, invested to the side and sent Riptide straight down into the water, sticking the tip into the god's heel

Ares was surprised, and at the same time full of hate. Who did that baby cub think he was? He would pay.  
"I don't believe that a mortal has hurt you," Aphrodite gasped.

. The roar that followed made the Hades earthquake seem like a minor event. The sea itself exploded away from Ares, leaving a circle of wet sand fifty feet in diameter. Icor, the golden blood of the gods, gushed from a deep gash in the god's boot. The expression on his face went beyond hatred. It was pain, shock, total disbelief at being hurt. He hobbled towards me, muttering old Greek plagues. Something stopped him.  
It was as if a cloud had covered the sun, but worse. The light was fading. Sounds and colors died out. A cold, heavy presence passed over the beach, delaying the weather, lowering the temperature until freezing, and making me feel that life was not worth it, that fighting was useless.

-Is he that powerful? -Athena said shocked-is using the powers outside Tartarus.

The darkness has dissipated. Ares looked stunned. The police cars were burning behind us. The crowd of spectators had fled. Annabeth and Grover were planted on the beach in shock, watching the water spill back around Ares' feet, and its luminescent golden icy water melting in the tide. Ares lowered the sword.

-He stopped you-Said Poseidon-He stopped you from going after Percy, but why? Why do you want Percy alive ?.  
-To use it. I don't know what it is, but Cronos needs Percy-Said Hades-If he can deceive his son, we are lost.

"You made an enemy, son of god," he told me. - You sealed your fate. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you expect success, you will feel my curse. Watch out, Perseus Jackson. Watch out. Her body started to glow.  
\- Percy! Cried Annabeth. - Do not look!  
I turned around while the god Ares revealed his true immortal form. Somehow I knew that if I looked, it would disintegrate into ashes. The light went out. I looked back. Ares was gone. The tide withdrew to reveal the bronze helmet of Hades' darkness. I picked it up and walked towards my friends. But before I got there, I heard the flapping of leather wings. Three evil-looking grandmothers in lace hats and flaming whips came down from the sky and landed in front of me. The middle Fury, the one that had been Mrs. Dodds, took a step forward. His fangs were exposed, but for the first time it didn't look threatening. She looked more disappointed, as if she had planned to eat me for supper, but she realized that I could give her indigestion.  
"We saw everything," she hissed. - So ... it really wasn't you?  
I threw the helmet at her, and she grabbed it, surprised.  
"Give this back to Lord Hades," I said. - Tell him the truth. Tell him to cancel the war.  
She hesitated, then ran a forked tongue across her green leathery lips. - Live well, Percy Jackson. Become a true hero. Because if you don't, if you ever fall into my clutches again ...  
She cackled, relishing the idea. Then she and the sisters took flight on their bat wings, hovered in the smoke-filled sky and disappeared. I joined Grover and Annabeth, who were looking at me in amazement.  
"Percy ..." said Grover. - That was so incredibly ...  
"Terrifying," said Annabeth.  
\- Nice! Corrected Grover.  
I didn't feel terrified. I certainly didn't feel cool. I was tired, hurt and without any energy.  
\- Did you feel that ... what was that? - I asked.  
The two nodded, embarrassed.  
"It must be the Furies up there," said Grover. But I wasn't so sure. Something had prevented Ares from killing me, and anything that could do that was much stronger than the Furies. I looked at Annabeth, and we had the same feeling. Now I knew what was in that chasm, what had said about the entrance to Tartarus. I rescued my backpack with Grover and looked inside. The master ray was still there. Such a small thing had almost caused World War III.  
"We have to get back to New York," I said. - Tonight.  
"It's impossible," said Annabeth, "unless we ..."  
"We were flying," I completed.  
She opened her eyes wide for me.  
"Flying, like in an airplane, something that you were warned never to do, lest Zeus fulminate you out of the sky, and still go up carrying a weapon that has more destructive power than a nuclear bomb?"  
"Yes," I said. - More or less. Let's go.

"I hope I don't take down the plane," said Zeus.


	23. Chapter 21

\- My reckoning - Leu Dionísio.

It is funny how human beings are able to wrap their minds around things and fit them into their version of reality

-Mortals are afraid of what they don't know, they want to explain the inexplicable-Said Artemis.

. Chiron had told me that a long time ago. As usual, I only paid attention to your wisdom long after. According to the Los Angeles news, the explosion on Santa Monica beach had been caused when a crazed kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police vehicle

-Kidnapper? -Demeter said -Who did Ares kidnap?

. It accidentally hit a main gas pipe that had broken during the earthquake. This crazed kidnapper (also known as Ares) was the same man who abducted me with two other teenagers in New York and brought us across the country on a ten-day terror odyssey.

"It went from a suicide mission to a series of misadventures," said Zeus.

Poor little Percy Jackson, after all, was not an international criminal. He had caused a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to escape his kidnapper (and later, witnesses swore they had seen the man in the leather suit on the bus - "Why didn't I remember him before?"). The crazed man had caused the explosion at the St. Louis Arch. After all, no little boy could have done that. A worried waitress from Denver had seen the man threaten his abductees outside his restaurant, called a friend to take a photo, and notified the police.

-How easy it is to deceive them. - Said Apollo without believing.

Finally, the brave Percy Jackson (I was starting to like this boy) had taken a shotgun from his kidnapper in Los Angeles and fought him, shotgun against rifle, on the beach. The police had arrived just in time. But in the spectacular explosion, five police vehicles were destroyed and the kidnapper had fled. There were no deaths. Percy Jackson and his two friends were safe, in police custody

-And how are you going to travel? They don’t even have any money, ”Quiron asked.

. The reporters provided us with this entire story. We just nodded and made ourselves tearful and exhausted (which was not difficult), and played the victimized children on camera.

"All I want," I said, holding back my tears, "is to see my beloved stepfather again." Every time I saw him on TV calling me delinquent punk, I knew ... somehow ... that everything was going to be all right. And I know that he will want to reward everyone in this beautiful city of Los Angeles one by one with a free, big appliance from his store. Here's the phone number.

"Gabe goes bankrupt," said Hera.  
"He deserves it," said Poseidon.

The police and reporters were so moved that they put on their hats and raised money for three tickets on the next plane to New York. I knew there was no choice but to fly. I hoped Zeus would give me some time to flirt, considering the circumstances. But it was still difficult to force myself to board the flight. The takeoff was a nightmare. Every moment of turbulence was more frightening than a Greek monster. I didn't let go of the armchair until we landed safely at La Guardia airport. (* 1)

"I bet you threw up," said Hermes, laughing.

The local press was waiting for us outside security, but we managed to escape thanks to Annabeth, who lured her away with her invisible Yankees cap, shouting:  
\- They are there, near the ice cream shop! Come on! and then joined us in the baggage claim area. We split up at the taxi stand. I told Annabeth and Grover to go back to Half-Blood Hill and tell Chiron what had happened. They protested, and it was difficult to let them go after everything we went through together, but I knew I had to do that last part of my mission alone. If things went wrong, if the gods didn't believe me ... I wanted Annabeth and Grover to survive to tell Chiron the truth

"I don't know if it's a good idea for him to go alone," said Hephaestus.

I boarded a taxi and headed for Manhattan.  
Thirty minutes later, I entered the lobby of the Empire State Building. I must have looked like an abandoned child, with my tattered clothes and my face all scratched. I hadn't slept in at least twenty-four hours.

\- Appearance of all demigods - Said Zeus - Remember that demigod son of Apollo? Who entered here after a mission, was all burned, his arm broken. Appearance of a corpse.  
-I remember yes-Apollo said-He was a great son.

I went to the guard at the reception desk and said:  
\- Six hundredth floor.  
He was reading a huge book with the figure of a wizard on the cover. I don't like much fantasy, but I think the book was good, because the guard took some time to look up.  
\- That floor doesn't exist, boy  
\- I need an audience with Zeus. - He gave me a vague smile. - What?  
\- Did you hear me.  
I was about to conclude that this guy was just an ordinary mortal, and I had better run before he called the straight jacket patrol, when he said:  
\- No appointment, no audience, kid. Lord Zeus does not answer anyone without warning.  
\- Ah, I think he will make an exception.  
I took the backpack off my back and unzipped it. The guard looked at the metal cylinder inside without understanding what it was for a few seconds. Then his face paled.  
\- This is not...  
"Yes, it is," I said. - You want me to take it off and ...

"Rascal boy," said Hermes, laughing.

\- No! No!  
He scrambled up from his chair, felt around the table for a key card, and handed it to me.  
\- Insert into the security slot. Make sure no one else is in the elevator with you.  
I did what he told me. As soon as the elevator doors closed, I stuck the card in the slot. The card disappeared and a new button appeared on the board, a red button that said 600. I pressed and waited, and waited. There was music playing. "Raindrops keepfalling on my head ..." (* 2) Finally, plim. The doors opened. I went out and almost had a heart attack. I was on a narrow stone path in midair. Below me was Manhattan, the height of an airplane.  
In front of me, white marble steps spiraled up through a cloud to the sky. My eyes followed the stairs to the end, where my brain just couldn't accept what I saw. Look again, said my brain. We are looking, my eyes insisted. It's really there. From the top of the clouds rose the beheaded peak of a mountain, the summit covered with snow. On the mountainside were dozens of palaces of varying levels - a city of mansions - all with porticoes of white columns, golden terraces and bronze braziers shining with a thousand fires. Roads twisted in a crazy way to the peak, where the largest of the palaces shone against the snow. Poorly perched gardens flourished with olive and rose bushes. I was able to distinguish an open market full of colorful tents, a stone amphitheater built on one side of the mountain, a racecourse and a coliseum on the other. It was an ancient Greek city, only it was not in ruins. It was new, clean and colorful, as Athens must have been two and a half thousand years ago.

"I miss Athens," said Athena, remembering what it was like.

This palace cannot be here, I told myself. The tip of a mountain hanging over New York City like a billion-ton asteroid? How could such a thing be anchored above the Empire State Building in full view of millions of people, and not be noticed?  
but here it was. And here I was. My trip through Olympus was stunning. I passed some forest nymphs who giggled and threw olives from their orchard. In the market, peddlers offered to sell ambrosia-on-a-stick, a new shield and a genuine replica of the Golden Fleece in sparkling fabric, as advertised on Hefesto TV. The nine muses tuned their instruments for a concert in the park while a small crowd gathered - satyrs, naiads and a band of good-looking teenagers who were perhaps lesser gods and goddesses.  
No one seemed concerned about an impending civil war. In fact, everyone seemed to be in a festive mood. Several turned to watch me pass and whispered among themselves. I went up the main road towards the grand palace at the peak. It was an inverted copy of the palace in the Underworld. There, everything was black and bronze. Here, everything shone in white and silver. I realized that Hades must have built his palace to look like this. He was not welcome on Olympus, except on the winter solstice, so he built his own Olympus underground. Despite my bad experience with him, I felt sorry for the guy. Being banished from this palace seemed really unfair. It was to make anyone bitter.

-I don't care-Said Hades too fast-And my palace is not like Olympus, it is much better, bigger.  
But everyone noticed that it was a lie. The lesser goddesses smiled with compassion.

Steps led to a central courtyard. Besides him, the throne room. Sala isn't exactly the right word. The place made the Grand Central Station look like a broom closet. Massive columns rose to a vaulted ceiling, which was decorated with moving constellations. Twelve thrones, built for beings the size of Hades, were arranged in an inverted U, just like the cottages at Camp Half-Blood. A huge fire crackled in the central brazier. The thrones were empty except for two at the end: the main throne on the right and one immediately on the left.  
No one had to tell me who the two gods who were sitting there were, waiting for me to approach.  
I came in front of them with shaking legs.  
The gods were in giant human form, as Hades had been, but I could barely look at them without feeling a tingle, as if my body was starting to burn. Zeus, the Lord of the Gods, wore a dark blue pinstripe suit. He was sitting on a simple throne of solid platinum. He had a neatly trimmed beard, marble gray and black, like a storm cloud. His face was proudly handsome and severe, his eyes were the gray of rain.  
When I approached him, the air crackled and I smelled ozone. The god sitting next to him was his brother, no doubt, but he was dressed very differently. It reminded me of a Key West beach scavenger.

"I told you to change your style," said Aphrodite, laughing at Poseidon's open mouth.

He wore leather sandals, khaki shorts and a Tommy Bahama shirt all printed with coconut trees and parrots. His skin was darkly tanned and his hands were scarred like an old fisherman's. The hair was black, like mine. His face had the same sullen air that always made me labeled a rebel. But his eyes, sea green like mine, were surrounded by wrinkles that told me he was smiling too. The gods were not moving or speaking, but there was tension in the air, as if they had just argued. I approached the fisherman's throne and knelt at his feet.  
\- Dad.  
I didn't dare look up. My heart was racing, I could feel the energy emanating from the two gods. If I said the wrong thing, there was no doubt that they could reduce me to dust. To my left, Zeus said:  
\- Shouldn't you address the lord of this house first, boy?

-Don't start brother. He's right-said Poseidon.

I kept my head down and waited.  
"Peace, brother," said Poseidon at last. His voice stirred my oldest memories: that warm feeling that reminded me of when I was a baby, the feeling of his god's hand on my forehead. - The boy submits to his father. That's right.  
\- So you still claim it as yours? asked Zeus, menacingly. - Do you complain about this child that you procreated against our sacred oath?  
"I admitted my transgression," said Poseidon. - And now I'm going to hear you speak.  
Transgression. I felt a lump in my throat. Was that all I was? A transgression? The result of a god's error?

-That's not what I meant-Said the god of the sea, angry with himself -I shouldn't have said that. I meant that, I assumed I broke the oath. Ah Percy!

"I already saved you once," growled Zeus. - Dare to fly through my domains ... bah! I should have blown him out of the sky for his audacity.  
\- And run the risk of destroying your own ray-master? asked Poseidon calmly. - Let's hear it, brother.  
Zeus grunted some more.  
"I will listen," he decided. - And then I will decide whether or not to throw this boy out of Olympus.  
\- Perseus

Everyone was startled.  
-Is his name Perseus? But he is the son of Poseidon-Said Artemis-How strange.

said Poseidon. - Look at me.  
I did that, and I'm not sure what I saw on your face. There was no clear sign of love or approval. Nothing to encourage me. It was like looking at the ocean: on some days, you could tell how your mood was. Most days, however, it was impossible to read, mysterious. I had a feeling that Poseidon didn't really know what to think of me. I didn't know if I was happy to have me as a child or not. In a strange way, I was glad Poseidon was so far away. If he had tried to apologize, or said he loved me, or even smiled, he would have looked fake. Like a human father, giving some unconvincing excuse for not being there. I could live with that. After all, I wasn't sure about it myself either.  
"Go to Lord Zeus, boy," Poseidon told me. - Tell him your story.  
So I told Zeus everything, just as it had happened. I took the metal cylinder out of my backpack, which started to spark in the presence of the God of Heaven, and put it at his feet. There was a long silence, broken only by the crackling of the fire in the brazier.  
Zeus opened the palm of his hand. The lightning flew into her. When he closed his fist, the metal dots flashed with electricity, until he held what looked more like a classic lightning bolt, a six-meter dart made of energy with weeping sparks that made my hair stand on end.  
"I feel the boy is telling the truth," murmured Zeus. - But it is not typical for Ares to do such a thing.  
"He's proud and impulsive," said Poseidon. - It's a family thing.  
\- Sir? - I called. Both said: - Yes?  
\- Ares did not act alone. Another person - or something else - came up with the idea.  
I described my dreams and the feeling I had on the beach, the momentary breath of evil that had seemed to stop the world and made Ares give up killing me.  
In my dreams - I said - the voice told me to take the lightning to the Underworld. Ares hinted that he too was having dreams. I think he was being used, like me, to start a war.  
"Are you accusing Hades, anyway?" asked Zeus.  
"No," I said. - I mean, Lord Zeus, I was in the presence of Hades. The feeling on the beach was different. It was the same thing I felt when I got close to that chasm. That was an entrance to Tartarus, wasn't it? Something powerful and evil is stirring down there ... something even older than the gods.  
Poseidon and Zeus looked at each other. They had a quick and intense discussion in ancient Greek. I just took one word. Father. Poseidon made some kind of suggestion, but Zeus cut him off. Poseidon tried to argue. Zeus raised his hand, angry.

"He gave his verdict without listening to me," said Poseidon with a tone of irritation.

"We won't talk about it anymore," said Zeus. - I must go personally to purify this ray in the waters of Lemnos, to remove the human stain from its metal. - He stood up and looked at me. His expression softened a fraction of a degree. - You did me a job, boy. Few heroes could have achieved so much.  
"I had help, sir," I said. - Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase ...  
\- To show my gratitude, I will spare your life. I don't trust you, Perseus Jackson. I don't like what your arrival means for the future of Olympus. But, in the name of peace in the family, I will let you live.

-For now!.  
\- Stop drama dad.  
-Quiet Apollo.

\- Uh ... thank you, sir.  
\- Don't you dare fly again. Don't let me find you here when I get back. Or you will taste this ray. And it will be your last sensation.  
Thunder shook the palace. With a blinding flash, Zeus was gone. I was alone in the throne room with my father.  
"Your uncle," sighed Poseidon, "has always had a knack for theater outings." I think he would have done well as the god of the theater.

"I am not dramatic," said Zeus, offended.

An awkward silence.  
"Sir," said I, "what was in that chasm?"  
Poseidon looked at me closely.  
\- Didn't you guess?  
"Cronos," I said. - The king of the Titans.  
Even in the throne room of Olympus, far from Tartarus, the name Cronos darkened the atmosphere, and made the fire in the brazier no longer look so hot on my back. Poseidon held his trident.

Involuntarily, Hestia increased the heat of the ember, as if the fire had gone down with the reading.

\- In the First World War, Percy, Zeus cut our father Cronos into a thousand pieces, just as Cronos had done with his own father, Uranus. Zeus threw the remains of Cronos into the darkest abyss of Tartarus. The Titans' army was dispersed, their mountain fortress on Etna destroyed, their monstrous allies were driven to the farthest corners of the Earth. And yet, Titans cannot die, any more than we, gods. What remains of Cronos still lives in some hideous way, still conscious in his eternal suffering, still hungry for power.  
"He's healing," I said. - He will come back.  
Poseidon shook his head.  
\- From time to time, throughout the ages, Cronos is agitated. He enters men's nightmares and exhales evil thoughts. Awakens restless monsters from the depths. But to suggest that it can rise from the abyss is another thing.  
\- That's what he wants, Dad. And what did he say.

-But that doesn’t mean you’re going to make it, said Hades.

Poseidon was silent for a long time.  
\- Mr Zeus ended the discussion on the subject. He will not allow people to speak of Cronos. You have completed your mission, child. That's all you need to do.  
\- But ... - I interrupted. Arguing would not do any good. Quite possibly, it would irritate the only god I had on my side. - As ... as you wish, father.  
A slight smile played on his lips.  
\- Obedience doesn't come naturally to you, does it?  
\- No sir.  
\- I must have some guilt for that, I imagine. The sea does not like to be contained. - He rose to his full height and took his trident. Then it flickered and stood the size of a normal man, standing before me. - You need to go, child. But first know that your mother has returned.  
I looked at him, completely puzzled.  
\- My mom?  
\- You'll find her at home. Hades sent her when he recovered his helmet. Even the Lord of Death pays his debts.  
My heart raced. I could hardly believe it.  
\- You ... you will ...  
I wanted to ask if Poseidon would come with me to see her, but then I realized that this was ridiculous. I imagined myself boarding the Sea God in a taxi and taking him to the Upper East Side. If all those years he had wanted to see my mother, he would have seen it. And it was also necessary to think that Gabe Cheiroso was there. Poseidon's eyes were a little sad.

Hearing the god of the sea, he felt uncomfortable.

When you get home, Percy, you need to make an important choice. You will find a package waiting for you in your bedroom.  
\- A package?  
\- You will understand when you see him. Nobody can choose your path, Percy. You will have to decide.  
I nodded, although I didn't know what he meant.  
"Your mother is a queen among women," said Poseidon wistfully. - I haven't met a mortal woman like her in a thousand years. Still ... I'm sorry that you were born, child. I brought you a hero's destiny, and a hero's destiny is never happy. It is just a tragic fate.  
I tried not to feel hurt. There was my own father, saying he was sorry that I was born.  
\- I don't care, Dad.  
"Not yet, maybe," he said. - Not yet. But it was an unforgivable mistake on my part.  
\- I'll leave you, then. - I leaned over, clumsily. - No ... I won't bother you again.  
I was five steps away when he called:  
\- Perseus. - I turned around. There was a different light in his eyes, a flaming kind of pride. - You did well, Perseus. Do not misunderstand me. Whatever you still do, know that you are mine. You are a true child of the God of the Sea.  
As I walked back through the city of the gods, the conversations broke off. The muses stopped their concert. People, satyrs and naiads, all turned to me, their faces full of respect and gratitude, and when I passed they knelt, as if I were some kind of hero.  
Fifteen minutes later, still in a trance, I was back on the streets of Manhattan. I took a taxi to my mother's apartment, rang the doorbell, and there she was - my beautiful mother, smelling of mint and licorice, and the tiredness and worry evaporated from her face as soon as she saw me. - Percy! Oh, thank God! Oh my darling.  
She squeezed me until I couldn't anymore. We stayed in the hall while she cried and ran her hands through my hair. I admit - my eyes also got a little cloudy. I was shaking, I was so relieved to see her.

-I would have been surprised if he hadn't cried-Said Aphrodite-He loves her so much.

She told me that she had just shown up at the apartment that morning, leaving Gabe a little scared off. He hadn't remembered anything since Minotauro, and he couldn't believe it when Gabe told him I was a wanted criminal, traveling around the country and blowing up national monuments. She had been mad with worry all day because she hadn't heard the news. Gabe had forced her to go to work, saying that she needed a month's wages to compensate, and it was better to start.

-Bad bastard-swore Poseidon.

I swallowed the anger and told him my own story. I tried to make it look less terrifying than it had been, but it wasn't easy. He was just getting into the fight with Ares when Gabe's voice broke out from the living room.  
\- Hey, Sally! Is that meat loaf ready or not?  
She closed her eyes.  
\- He won't be very happy to see you, Percy. The store received a million calls from Los Angeles today ... something about free appliances. - Ah yes. About that...  
She managed to smile weakly.  
\- Just don't make him even more angry, okay? Come on.  
In the month that I was away, the apartment had become Gabelândia. There was garbage on the carpet up to the ankles. The sofa had been upholstered again with beer cans. Dirty socks and underwear were hanging from the lamps. Gabe and three of his idiot friends were sitting at the table playing poker. When Gabe saw me, the cigar fell out of his mouth. His face was redder than lava.  
\- You are too brazen to come here, you little punk. I thought the police ...  
"He's not a fugitive, after all," interrupted my mother. - Isn't it wonderful, Gabe?  
Gabe looked this way and that between us. I didn't seem to think that my return home was that wonderful.  
"It's no longer enough to have to return your life insurance money, Sally," he snarled. - Give me the phone. I will call the police.  
\- Gabe, no!  
He raised his eyebrows.  
\- You said no! Do you think I'm going to have to put up with this punk again? I can still file a complaint against him for destroying my Camaro.  
\- But ...  
He raised his hand and my mother flinched. For the first time, I realized something. Gabe had already beaten my mother.

-Why doesn't she leave? -Athena said -He is a monster.

I don't know when or how much. Maybe it had been going on for years, when I wasn't around. A balloon of anger started to expand in my chest. I walked over to Gabe, instinctively taking my pen out of his pocket. He just laughed.  
\- What is it, punk? Will you write to me? Touch me, and you will go to jail forever, understand?  
"Hey, Gabe," his friend Eddie interrupted. - He's just a kid.  
Gabe looked at him angrily and ape in a falsetto voice:  
\- He's just a kid! - Your other friends laughed like idiots. - I'll be nice to you, punk. - Gabe showed his tobacco-stained teeth. - I'll give you five minutes to get your things and get out. After that, I call the police.  
\- Gabe! my mother pleaded.  
"He ran away," Gabe told her. - May he still run away.

-She needs to choose. The husband or the child. If it were she would make him pay for everything - said Nemesis, goddess of revenge.

I was feeling an itch to uncover Riptide, but even if I did, the blade couldn't hurt humans. And Gabe, according to the vaguest of definitions, was a human being. My mom took my arm.  
\- Please, Percy. Come on. Let's go to your room.  
I let her pull me, her hands still shaking with anger. My room had been completely overflowing with Gabe's trash. There were stacks of old car batteries, a rotten bouquet of flowers of solidarity with a card from someone who had watched his interview with Barbara Walters.  
"Gabe is just upset, dear," said my mother. - I'll talk to him later. I'm sure it will work.  
\- Mom, it will never work. Not while Gabe is here.  
She wrung her hands nervously.  
\- I can ... I'll take you with me to work for the rest of the summer. In the fall there may be some other boarding school ...  
\- Mom.  
She looked down.  
\- I'm trying, Percy. I just ... I just need some time.  
A package appeared on my bed. At least, I could have sworn I wasn't there a moment before. It was a battered cardboard box about the right size to hold a basketball. The address on the label was in my own handwriting:  
To the gods  
Mount Olympus, 600th floor  
Empire State Building  
New York, NY  
Best wishes, Percy Jackson  
At the top of the box, in black marker, in the clear, strong hand of a man, was the address of our apartment, and the words: RETURN TO THE SENDER.

"I didn't know that Machiavellian side of you," said Hades to his brother.

I suddenly understood what Poseidon had said to me on Olympus. A package. A decision. Whatever you still do, know that you are mine. You are a true son of the God of the Sea. I looked at my mother.  
\- Mom, do you want to get rid of Gabe?  
\- Percy, it's not that simple. I...  
\- Mom, just tell me. That asshole is hitting you. Do you want him to go or not?  
She hesitated, then nodded almost imperceptibly.  
\- Yes, Percy. I want to. And I'm trying to muster up the courage to tell him. But you can't do this for me. You cannot solve my problems.  
I looked at the box. I could solve her problem. I wanted to open that package, put it on the poker table and take out what was inside. I could start my own statue garden right there in the living room. And what a Greek hero would do in the stories, I thought. It is what Gabe deserves. But a hero's story always ends in tragedy. Poseidon had told me that. I remembered the Underworld. I thought of the spirit of Gabe adrift in the Campos de Asfódelos, or condemned to some horrible torture behind the barbed wire of the Fields of Punishment - sitting in an eternal game of poker, dipping to the waist in boiling oil or listening to opera music. Did I have the right to send someone there? Even Gabe? A month ago, I would not have hesitated. Now...  
"I can do that," I said to my mother. - A peek at what's inside this box, and he'll never bother you again.  
She took a look at the package and seemed to understand immediately.  
"No, Percy," she said, walking away. - You can not.  
"Poseidon called you queen," I told him. "He said he hasn't known a woman like you in a thousand years."  
Their faces flushed.  
\- Percy ...  
\- You deserve better than that, Mom. You should go to college, get your diploma. He could write his novel, meet a nice guy, who knows, and live in a beautiful house. You no longer need to protect me by staying with Gabe, Let me get rid of him.  
She wiped a tear from her face.  
"You look so much like your father," she said. - Once you proposed to stop the tide for me. He proposed to build a palace for me at the bottom of the sea, I thought I could solve all my problems with a wave of my hand.

-She must have been special-Said Hestia-You always treated your women well, but this Sally, she is a rare jewel.

\- What is wrong with it?  
His multicolored eyes seemed to search inside me.  
\- I think you know, Percy, I think you're alike enough to understand. If my life is to have any meaning, I have to live it myself. I can't let a god take care of me ... or my son, I need to ... find the courage alone, his mission reminded me of that.

-The thought of a hunter-Said Artemis, the courage and strength you carry with you, and makes you face danger.

We heard the sound of poker chips and plagues, and ESPN on the television in the living room.  
\- I will leave the box - I said - if he threatens her ...  
She paled, but nodded.  
\- Where are you going, Percy?  
\- Half-Blood Hill.  
\- Spending the summer ... or forever?  
\- Still do not know.  
Our eyes met, and I felt that we had an agreement. We would see how things would be at the end of the summer. She kissed my forehead.  
\- You will be a hero, Percy, the greatest of all. I scanned the room for the last time, I had the feeling that I would never see him again. So I went with my mom to the front door.  
\- Leaving so soon, punk? shouted Gabe from behind me. - It's late!  
I felt one last point of doubt. How could I reject the perfect opportunity to get back at him? I was leaving here without saving my mother.  
\- Hey, Sally! he shouted. - And that meatloaf, huh? An expression of anger, hard as steel, flashed in my mother's eyes, and I thought, who knows, maybe I was leaving her in good hands after all: hers.  
"The meatloaf is coming out, honey," she said to Gabe. - A surprise meatloaf.  
He looked at me and blinked. The last thing I saw when the door closed was my mom looking at Gabe like she imagined he would make a great garden statue.

"We got rid of the dead weight," said Artemis.

********************************

1-The music that plays in the elevator, is the theme song for Spiderman 2, that is, the gods have good taste


	24. Chapter 22

\- The prophecy is fulfilled-Leu Athena- "A friend will betray you".  
I'm sure, it's not Annabeth and Grover-said Hephaestus.  
-Then there's only left ... Luke-Said Hera-He gave Percy the sneakers, and I think he stole the lightning. Only him.  
Hermes was disappointed.

We were the first heroes to return alive to Half-Blood Hill since Luke, so it is clear that everyone treated us as if we had won some reality show awards on TV. In accordance with the camp's tradition, we wear laurel wreaths at a large banquet prepared in our honor, then lead a procession to the fire, where we burn the shrouds that had been made for us in our absence. Annabeth's shroud was beautiful - gray silk with embroidered owls - and I said it was a pity that I couldn't bury it with her. She punched me and told me to shut up.  
As Poseidon's son, I had no chalet companion, and so Ares's chalet offered to make my shroud.

-I imagine the "beauty" that remained-Said Apolo ironic.

They took an old sheet and painted smiley faces on the edges, with XX in place of the eyes, and the word LOST in really big size in the middle. It was fun to burn it.  
While Apollo's chalet led the singing and passed on treats, I was surrounded by my companions from Hermes's chalet, Annabeth's friends, children of Athena, and fellow satyrs from Grover, who were admiring the brand new search engine license he had received. of the Split Hoof Elders Council.  
The council had called Grover's performance on the mission "Bravo to the point of indigestion."  
The only ones who were not in a festive mood were Clarisse and her chalet companions, whose poisonous looks told me they would never forgive me for embarrassing their father

Ares hoped that his children would take revenge for him.

. It's fine by me. Even Dionísio's welcome speech was insufficient to drown out my good mood.

\- Yes, yes, the kid didn't let himself be killed and now he's going to get even more smug. Well, one cheers for that. Among other announcements, there will be no canoe races this Saturday ...  
I moved back to cottage 3, but he didn't seem so lonely anymore. I had my friends to train during the day. At night, I stayed awake and listened to the sea, knowing that my father was outside. Maybe he still didn't feel very sure about me, maybe he still didn't want me to be born, but he was watching. And, so far, I was proud of what I had done. As for my mother, she had a chance at a new life. Her letter arrived a week after I returned to camp. She told me that Gabe had mysteriously left - he had disappeared from the face of the planet, in fact. She reported the disappearance to the police, but she had a funny feeling that they would never find him. Changing the subject completely, she had sold her first life-size concrete sculpture, titled The Poker Player,

-I would not give a better name - Said Poseidon-And now as a statue its "scented" odor, no longer exists.  
"I don't think so, it covers the catinga," exclaimed Hades.

for a collector, through a Soho art gallery. He had received so much money for it that he had entered a new apartment and paid for the first semester of his course at New York University. The Soho gallery was crying out for more of her work, which they called "a big step from the super-real neo-realism".  
But don't worry, my mother wrote. No more sculpture for me. I got rid of that toolbox you left for me. It is time for me to write again.  
In the end, she wrote a P.S .: Percy, I found a good private school here in the city. I made a deposit to reserve a seat for you if you want to enroll in seventh grade. You can live at home. But, if you want to stay the whole year in the Half-Blood Hill, I will understand.  
I carefully folded the letter and put it on my nightstand. Every night before bed I read it again, and try to decide how to respond to it.  
On the Fourth of July, the entire camp met on the beach for a pyrotechnic show on account of cottage 9. As children of Hephaestus, they would not be content with common explosions in red, white and blue. They anchored a barge far from shore and loaded it with rockets the size of Patriot missiles. According to Annabeth, who had seen the show before, the explosions would be so well sequenced that they would look like animated pictures in the sky. The end should have been a pair of thirty-meter-high Spartan warriors who would crackle for life above the ocean, fight a battle and then explode in a million colors

-They love fire-Said Hephaestus-And speaking of fire, it has been a long time since my son was born like this, capable of creating fire with his body.

While Annabeth and I held out picnic towels, Grover came by to say goodbye to us. He wore his usual jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers, but in the past few weeks he had started to look older, almost a high schooler. His goatee had grown thicker. He had gained weight. His horns had grown at least an inch, so now he had to wear his rasta cap all the time to pass as a human.  
"I'm leaving," he said. - I just came to say ... well, you know.  
I tried to feel happy for him. After all, it wasn't every day that a satyr got permission to look for the great god Pan. But it was difficult to say goodbye. I had only known Grover for a year, and yet he was my oldest friend. Annabeth gave him a hug. She told you to always use your fake feet. I asked him where he would look first.  
"Like a secret," he said, looking embarrassed. - I wish you could come with me, but human beings and Pan ...  
"We understand," said Annabeth. - Do you have enough cans for the trip?  
\- Yes.  
\- And did you remember your bamboo flutes?  
"Wow, Annabeth," he muttered. - You look like an old mother-goat.

"It is called precaution," said Artemis.

But he didn't really look bored. He grabbed his cane and tossed a backpack over his shoulder. He looked like a hitchhiker like that you see on the roads - nothing like the short boy I used to defend from bullies at Yancy Academy.  
\- Well, - he said, - wish me luck.  
He gave Annabeth another hug. He tapped me on the shoulder, and then returned across the dunes. Fireworks exploded above us: Hercules killing the Nemean lion, Artemis chasing the boar, George Washington (who, by the way, was a son of Athena) crossing the Delaware River.  
"Hey, Grover," I called. He turned to the edge of the woods. - Wherever you are going, I hope you make good enchiladas.  
Grover smiled, and was gone; the trees closing around him.  
"We'll see you again," said Annabeth.  
I tried to believe that. The fact that no seeker had ever returned in two thousand years ... well, I decided not to think about it. Grover was going to be the first. It had to be.  
July is gone. I spent my days devising new strategies for capturing the flag and making alliances with the other cottages to keep the banner out of Ares' hands. I reached the top of the climbing wall for the first time without being browned by the lava. From time to time, I would pass by the Casa Grande, take a look at the attic windows and think about the Oracle. I tried to convince myself that his prophecy was complete. You must go west, and face the god who has become disloyal. I was there, I did it - even though in the end the traitor god was Ares, not Hades. You must find what was stolen and return it safely. Check. A master ray delivered. A helmet of darkness back on Hades' greasy head. You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend. That line still bothered me. Ares had pretended to be my friend and then he had betrayed me. That should be what the Oracle meant ... And in the end, he won't be able to save what matters most. I had not been able to save my mother, but only because I had left her to save herself, and I knew it was the right thing to do. So why was he still bothered?  
The last night of the summer session came too quickly. The campers had one last meal together. We burn part of our dinner for the gods. At the campfire, the older advisers handed over the end of summer bills. I got my own leather necklace, and when I saw the bill for my first summer, I was glad that the bonfire smothered the red in my face. The design was pitch black, with a sea-green trident sparkling in the center.

"What an honor," said Zeus.

"The choice was unanimous," announced Luke. - This account commemorates the first Son of the Sea God in this camp, and the mission he took on to the darkest part of the Underworld to prevent a war!  
The entire camp stood up and applauded. Even Ares' cottage felt compelled to get up. The Athens cottage pushed Annabeth forward so that she could share the applause. I don't think I've ever felt so happy or sad at the same time in my life. I finally found a family, people who cared about me and thought I had done something right. And in the morning, most of them would be out for the rest of the year. The next morning I found a patterned letter on my nightstand. I knew it must have been filled in by Dionysus, as he stubbornly insisted on mistaking my name:  
Dear Peter Johnson, If you plan to stay at Camp Half-Blood all year, you need to inform Casa Grande by noon today. If you do not announce your intentions, we will assume that you have wandered your cottage or died a horrible death. Cleaning harpies will begin their work at sunset. They will be allowed to eat any unregistered camper. All personal items left behind will be incinerated in the lava pit.  
Have a nice day!  
Mr. D (Dionysus), Camp Director, Olympian Council No. 12.  
This is another issue of attention deficit disorder. Deadlines just don't exist for me until there's no way. The summer was over, and I still hadn't answered my mother or camp if I was going to stay. Now he had only a few hours to decide. The decision had everything to be easy. I mean, nine months training for a hero, or nine months sitting in a classroom - come on! But there was my mom to consider. For the first time, I had the opportunity to live with her for a whole year, without Gabe. I had a chance to be home and roam the city in my free time. I remembered what Annabeth had said so long ago about our mission: The real world is where the monsters are. It is where we learn if it is useful for something or not. I thought about the fate of Thalia, daughter of Zeus. I wondered how many monsters would attack me if I left Half-Blood Hill. If I stayed in one place for an entire school year, without Chiron and my friends around to help me, would my mother and I survive until next summer? And that is assuming that the spelling tests and the five-paragraph essays did not kill me. I decided to go to the arena and practice some fencing. Maybe it would clear my head.  
The camp area was mostly deserted, shimmering in the August heat. All of the campers were in their cottages packing up, or running around with brooms and mops, preparing for the final inspection. Argos was helping some of Aphrodite's daughters to carry their bags and Gucci makeup cases to the other side of the hill, where the camp bus would be waiting to take them to the airport.  
Don't think about leaving yet, I told myself. Just train.  
I arrived at the swordsman arena and found that Luke had the same idea

"Time for bullshit," Ares said.  
-Look who decided to speak, - said Hades, pinning.

. His bag was lying on the edge of the arena. He was training alone, charging violently against dolls with a sword that I had never seen before. It must have been an all-steel sword, for it severed the heads of the dolls from one blow and stabbed through its straw-stuffed guts. His orange counselor shirt was dripping with sweat. His expression was so intense that it seemed that his life was really in danger. I watched, fascinated, as he gutted the entire row of puppets, cutting off the limbs and basically reducing them to a pile of straw and armor. They were just puppets, but I still couldn't help being amazed by Luke's skill. The guy was an incredible warrior. It made me wonder, again, how he could have failed in his mission. Finally he saw me and broke off in the middle of a blow.  
\- Percy.  
"Uh, sorry," I said, embarrassed. - I just...  
"Okay," he said, lowering the sword. - I was just giving a last minute training.  
\- Those dolls will never bother anyone again.  
Luke shrugged.  
\- We make new ones every summer.  
Now that the sword was no longer swirling from side to side, I could see something strange about it. The blade was made with two different types of metal - half bronze, half steel.

-She hurts mortals. Where did he get it from? -You wanted to know Athena.

Luke noticed that I was looking.  
\- Ah, that? New toy. This is Mordecostas.  
\- Mordecostas?  
Luke turned the blade in the light, and made it glow in an evil way.  
\- One side is celestial bronze. The other is made of hardened steel. It works on both mortals and immortals.  
I thought about what Chiron had told me when I started my mission - that a hero should never hurt mortals unless it is absolutely necessary.  
\- I didn't know they could make weapons like this.  
"They probably won't," agreed Luke. - This one is unique.  
He gave me a small smile and then stuck the sword in its sheath.  
\- Listen. I was going to look for you. What about going to the forest one last time, to look for something to face?  
I don't know why I hesitated. I should have been relieved that Luke was being so friendly. Since I came back from the mission, he had been acting a little distant. I was afraid that he was resentful of all the attention I had received.  
\- Do you think it's a good idea? - I asked. - I mean...  
\- Come on. - He rummaged in his bag and took out a package of six Cokes. - Drinks on my own.  
I looked at the Cokes, wondering where the hell I got them from. There were no common deadly sodas in the camp store. There was no way to get them unless we talked to a satyr, maybe. Naturally, the magic bowls of dinner would fill up with anything we wanted, but they didn't taste exactly like a real Coke out of the can. Sugar and caffeine. My willpower collapsed.  
"Sure," I decided. - Why not?

-Defeated by a Coca-Said Hecate incredulous.

We walked into the forest and wandered aimlessly looking for some kind of monster to face, but it was too hot. All monsters with a minimum of common sense should be taking a nap in their nice, cool caves. We found a shady spot by the stream where I had broken Clarisse's spear during my first game of capturing the flag. We sit on a big rock, drink our Cokes and look at the sunlight in the forest. After some time, Luke said:  
\- Do you miss being on a mission? - With monsters attacking me at every step? Speaks seriously!  
Luke raised an eyebrow.  
"Yes, I do," I admitted. - Is that you?  
A shadow passed over his face. I was used to hearing the girls say how handsome Luke was, but at that moment he looked tired, angry and not at all handsome. Her blond hair was gray in the sunlight. The scar on his face looked deeper than usual. He seemed to be seeing an old man.  
"I've lived on Half-Blood Hill all year since I was fourteen," he told me. - Since Thalia ... well, you know. I trained, trained and trained. I was never a normal teenager out there in the real world. So they threw me on a mission, and when I came back, it was like, "Okay, the tour is over. Have a good time."  
He rumpled his Coke and threw it into the stream, which really shocked me. One of the first things we learn at Camp Half-Blood is: don't throw garbage on the floor. You will be scolded by nymphs and naiads. They will settle the score. You fall into bed one night and find the sheets full of centipedes and mud.  
"To the devil with the laurel wreaths," said Luke. - I won't end up like those dusty trophies in the attic of Casa Grande.  
\- You look like someone leaving.  
Luke gave me a wry smile.  
\- Oh, I'm leaving, without a doubt, Percy. I brought you here to say goodbye.  
He snapped his fingers. A small fire burned a hole in the ground at my feet. From there, something black and shiny, crawling about the size of my hand, crawled out. A scorpion.

-Like him! - exclaimed Demeter

I started looking for my pen.  
"I wouldn't do that," warned Luke. - Scorpions from the depths can jump up to five meters. Your stinger can pierce your clothes. You would be dead in sixty seconds.  
\- Luke, what ...  
Then the plug fell. You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.  
"You," I said. He stood up calmly and dusted off his jeans. The scorpion paid no attention to him. His small, shiny eyes remained fixed on me, clutching the tweezers as he dragged himself onto my shoe.  
"I saw a lot out there in the world, Percy," said Luke. - Didn't you feel ... the darkness building, the monsters getting stronger? Didn't you realize how useless everything is? All heroic deeds ... We are just pawns of the gods. They should have been overthrown thousands of years ago, but they persist, thanks to us, half-bloods.  
I couldn't believe what was going on.  
"Luke ... you're talking about our parents," I said.  
He laughed.  
\- And that is why I need to love them? Your precious "Western civilization" is a disease, Percy. She is killing the world. The only way to stop it is to burn it down completely and start over with something more honest.

-Honesty with Cronos? .Defeat the gods and start a new era, with Titans? -Zeus said -He went crazy!

\- You are as crazy as Ares.  
His eyes flashed.  
\- Ares is a fool. He never realized who the real teacher he is serving is.

“Didn't you know it was Cronos?” Persephone asked doubtfully.

If I had time, Percy, I could explain. But unfortunately you will not live as long.  
The scorpion crawled over my trouser leg. There had to be a way out of this. I needed time to think.  
"Cronos," I said. - It's what you serve. The air got colder.  
"You should be careful with names," said Luke.  
\- Kronos made you steal the master ray and the helmet. He spoke to you in your dreams.  
Luke's eye twitched.  
\- He talked to you too, Percy. I should have heard.  
\- He's brainwashing you, Luke.  
\- You are wrong. He showed me that my talents are being wasted.Do you know what my mission was two years ago, Percy? My father, Hermes, wanted me to steal a snitch from the garden of the Hesperides and take it to Olympus. After all the training I did, that was the best he could think of.  
"This is not an easy task," I said. - Hercules did that.  
"Exactly," said Luke. - Where is the glory in repeating what others have already done? All the gods know how to do is repeat the past. My heart was not in that. The garden dragon gave me this - he pointed to the scar - and when I came back, all I got was pity. I wanted to destroy Olympus stone by stone at that moment, but I waited for the right moment. I started to dream about Cronos. He convinced me to steal something worthwhile, something that no hero had ever had the courage to take. When we went on that winter solstice tour, while the other campers were asleep, I sneaked into the throne room and took Zeus's master beam right on top of his chair. Hades' dark helmet also. You have no idea how easy it was. Olympians are so arrogant; they never even dreamed that anyone would dare to steal them. Their security is horrible. I was already halfway through New Jersey before I heard the storms thundering, and I knew they had discovered my theft.  
The scorpion was now standing on my knee, looking at me with its shining eyes. I tried to keep my voice at the same level.  
"Then why didn't you take the objects to Cronos?"  
Luke's smile faltered.  
\- I ... I was too confident. Zeus sent his sons and daughters to find the stolen lightning: Artemis, Support, my father, Hermes. But it was Ares who got me. I could have beaten him, but I was not careful enough. He disarmed me, took the objects of power from me, threatened to return them to Olympus and burn me alive. Then Cronos's voice came to me and told me what to say. I put the idea of a great war between the gods on Ares' head. He said that all he had to do was hide the objects for a while and watch while the others fought. A wicked gleam appeared in Ares's eyes. I knew he was hooked. He let me go, and I went back to Olympus before anyone noticed my absence.  
Luke drew his new sword. He ran his thumb over the flat part of the blade, as if mesmerized by its beauty. - Then, the Lord of the Titans ... and he punished me with nightmares. I vowed not to fail again. Back at Camp Half-Blood, in my dreams, I was told that a second hero would arrive, one who could be tricked into taking the lightning and helmet the rest of the way from Ares to Tartarus.  
\- You summoned the hellhound that night in the forest.  
\- We had to make Chiron think that the camp was not safe for you, and so he would begin his mission. We had to confirm your fears that Hades was after you. And it worked.  
"The flying sneakers were cursed," I said. - They should drag me with the backpack into Tartarus.  
\- And they would, if you were using them. But you gave them to the satyr, which was not part of the plan. Grover messes up everything he touches. It even confused the curse.  
Luke looked down at the scorpion, which was now standing on my thigh.  
\- You should have died in Tartarus, Percy. But do not worry. I will leave you with my little friend to fix things.  
"Thalia gave her life to save him," I said, gritting my teeth. - And this is how you repay?  
\- Don't talk about Thalia! He shouted. - The gods let her die!

-I didn't let my daughter die-shouted Zeus-I would never do that.

This is one of the many things they will pay for.  
\- You're being used, Luke. You and Ares, both. Don't listen to Kronos.  
\- Am I being used? Luke's voice was shrill. - Look at yourself. What has your father done for you? Cronos will rise. You just delayed your plans. He will launch the Olympians into Tartarus and send humanity back to the caves. All but the strongest; those who serve you.  
"Call your crawling bug back," I said. - If you are so strong, fight me yourself. Luke smiled.  
\- Nice try, Percy. But I am not Ares. You can’t grease me. My lord is waiting, and he has many missions for me.  
\- Luke ...  
\- Goodbye, Percy. A new Golden Age is coming. You will not be part of it.  
He traced an arc with his sword and disappeared in a wave of darkness. The scorpion struck.  
I threw it aside with my hand and uncovered the sword. The thing jumped on me and I cut it in half in the air. I was about to congratulate myself when I looked at my hand. In the palm there was a huge red welt, which distilled a yellow and smoking secretion. The thing had caught me, after all. My ears were throbbing. My vision was blurred. The water, I thought. She had healed me before. I staggered to the stream and dipped my hand, but nothing seemed to happen. The poison was too strong. My vision was getting dark. I could barely stand. Sixty seconds, Luke had told me. I had to go back to camp. If I passed out here, my body would be the dinner of some monster. No one would ever know what happened. My legs felt like they were made of lead. My forehead burned.

-He will do it ... will do it - said Poseidon cheering.

I staggered to the camp, and the nymphs woke up from their trees.  
"Help," I croaked. - Please...  
Two of them took my arms and pulled me forward. I remember reaching the clearing, a counselor shouting for help, a centaur blowing a shell trumpet. Then everything went black.  
I woke up with a straw in my mouth. I was drinking something that tasted like liquid chocolate chip cookies. Nectar. I opened my eyes. He was reclining on the bed in the Casa Grande sick room, his right hand bandaged like a stick. Argos stood guard in the corner. Annabeth was sitting next to me, holding the glass of nectar and wiping my forehead with a towel.  
"Here we are again," I said.  
"You idiot," said Annabeth, and that's how I realized she was overjoyed to see me conscious. - You were green and graying when we found you. If it weren't for Chiron's treatment ...  
"Come on, come on," said Chiron's voice. - Percy's constitution deserves part of the credit. He was sitting near the foot of my bed in human form, which is why I hadn't noticed him before.  
Its lower part was magically compacted in the wheelchair, and the upper part wore a coat and tie. He smiled, but his face looked tired and pale, as when he spent the night clearing Latin proofs.  
\- How are you feeling? - He asked.  
\- As if my insides were frozen and then baked in the microwave.  
\- Appropriate, considering it was scorpion poison from the depths. Now you have to tell me, if you can, exactly what happened.  
Between sips of nectar, I told them the story. The room was silent for a long time.  
"I can't believe Luke ..." Annabeth's voice faltered. His expression was angry and sad. - Yes. Yes, I can believe it. May the gods curse him ... He was never the same after his mission.  
"That must be reported to Olympus," murmured Chiron. - I will go immediately.  
"Luke's out there now," I said. - I need to go after him.  
Chiron shook his head.  
\- No, Percy. The gods...  
"They don't even talk about Kronos," I said. - Zeus declared the matter closed!  
\- Percy, I know it's difficult. But you must not run after revenge. You are not ready.  
I didn't like it, but part of me suspected that Chiron was right. One glance at my hand was enough to see that there would be no sword fights anytime soon.  
\- Chiron ... your prophecy of the Oracle ... was about Cronos, wasn't it? Was I in it? And Annabeth?  
Chiron looked nervously at the ceiling.  
\- Percy, it's not up to me ...  
\- You were ordered not to talk to me about it, were you?

"You are not yet ready to listen," said Hestia.

His eyes were sympathetic, but sad.  
\- You will be a great hero, child. I will do my best to prepare you. But if I'm right about the path ahead of you ...

"It won't be past sixteen," said Hermes, frustrated.  
Poseidon agreed, but wishing it were a lie.

Thunder boomed overhead, rattling the windows. - That's right! Shouted Chiron. - Perfect! He sighed in frustration. - The gods have their reasons, Percy. Knowing too much about your future is never a good thing.  
"We can't just sit around and do nothing," I said.  
"We will not sit," promised Chiron. - But you need to be careful. Cronos wants you to be destroyed. He wants his life interrupted, his thoughts obscured by fear and anger. Don't give him what he wants. Train patiently. Your moment will come.  
\- Assuming I'm alive by then.  
Chiron put his hand on my ankle.  
\- You will have to trust me, Percy. You will live. But first you need to decide your path for the coming year. I can't tell you which is the right choice ... - I had the impression that he had a very clear opinion, and was using all his willpower to not advise me. - But you need to decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood all year, or whether to return to the mortal world for seventh grade and be a summer camper. Think about it. When I return from Olympus, you will have to tell me your decision.  
I wanted to protest. I wanted to ask you more questions. But his expression told me that there would be no more discussion; he had already said everything he could.  
"I'll be back as soon as I can," Chiron promised. - Argos will protect you. He looked at Annabeth. - Oh, and my dear ... when you're ready, they're here.  
\- Who's here?- I asked. No one answered. Chiron rolled out of the room. I heard the muffled metallic sound of the wheels on his chair cautiously descending the front steps, two at a time. Annabeth studied the ice in my drink.  
\- What's wrong? - I asked her.  
\- Anything. - She put the glass on the table. - I ... just took your advice on something. Do you ... uh ... need anything?  
\- Yes. Help me get up. I want to go outside.  
\- Percy, it's not a good idea.  
I dragged my legs off the bed. Annabeth grabbed me before I collapsed on the floor. A wave of nausea hit me. Annabeth said:  
\- I talked...  
"I'm fine," I insisted. I didn't want to lie in bed like an invalid while Luke was out there planning to destroy the western world. I managed to take a step forward. Then another, still leaning heavily on Annabeth. Argos followed us outside, but kept his distance. When we got to the balcony, my face was wet with sweat. My stomach twisted in us. But I had managed to get to the fence. It was getting dark. The camp seemed completely deserted. The cottages were dark and the volleyball court was quiet. No canoe cut across the lake. In addition to the woods and fields of strawberries, the Long Island Strait shone with the last rays of the sun.  
\- What will you do? Asked Annabeth.  
\- I do not know.  
I told her that I had the feeling that Chiron wanted me to stay all year long, to have more time for individual training, but I wasn't sure that was what I wanted. But I admitted that I felt bad for leaving her alone, with Clarisse for company ... Annabeth pursed her lips and then said quietly:  
\- I'm going to spend the year at home, Percy.  
I looked at her.  
\- You mean, with your father?  
She pointed to the summit of Half-Blood Hill. Next to Thalia's pine tree, just outside the encampment's magical borders, there was a family in silhouette - two small children, a woman and a tall man with blond hair. They seemed to be waiting. The man was holding a backpack similar to the one Annabeth had taken at the Water Park in Denver.  
"I wrote him a letter when we got back," said Annabeth. - As you suggested. I told him ... I was sorry. That I would go home for the school year if he still wanted me. He replied immediately. We decided ... that we were going to try again.

-I hope so-Athena twisted.

\- It took courage for that.  
She pursed her lips.  
\- You're not going to try anything stupid during the school year, are you? At least ... not without sending me a message from Iris?  
I managed to smile.  
\- I won't look for trouble. I don't usually need to.  
"When I get back next summer," she said, "we are going to hunt Luke." I’m going to ask for a mission, but if we don’t get approved, we’ll sneak out and do it anyway. According?  
\- It looks like a plan worthy of Athena.  
She held out her hand. I squeezed it.  
"Take care, Seaweed," said Annabeth. - Keep your eyes open.  
\- You too, Sabidinha. I watched as she went up the hill to join the family. She gave her father an awkward hug and looked at the valley behind her one last time. He touched Thalia's pine and then let himself be carried over the summit and into the mortal world. For the first time at camp, I felt truly alone. I looked at the Long Island strait and remembered my father saying: The sea does not like to be contained. I made my decision. I wondered: if Poseidon was watching, would he approve of my choice? I will be back next summer - I promised him. - I'll survive until then. After all, I am your son.

"I hope it is the right choice," said Quiron.

I asked Argos to take me to cottage 3, so I could pack up my things before going home.

-The book is finished. And I already decided the punishment of Ares-Said Zeus.  
The god of war swallowed.


	25. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O primeiro livro está terminado, eu já postei deuses lendo Sea of Monsters, divirta-se.

\- The Punishment of Ares

All Olympians were on their thrones to discuss the punishment of the disloyal god. Even the lesser gods and Chiron were watching, in comfortable chairs, among the gods.  
-Ares god of war-Zeus began-It is no secret that you always wanted a war between us, that is always pitting against each other. But this time you went too far, even if it is in the future, more precisely 48 years from now, we know that if it were to happen, you would betray us.  
-You trusted a demigod, did not know that he worked for Kronos but followed him blindly, and used my son-Said Poseidon.-Almost killed him, and was left with two objects stolen from two gods.  
-We forgive him-Said Hades-After all, not the reason for spite. But to prevent this from happening again, and as a warning to others. You will make a small punishment. You can speak Apollo.  
-The idea was mine-Said the sun god-I told my father and uncles and they loved it.  
Ares was on his quiet throne, but inside he was seething with rage, anger at everyone and himself. He had trusted a cub of god. It had been stupid.  
-You will go to the half-blood camp, and you will dance macarena, dressed as Tutu.  
At first, Ares thought he got it wrong, but saw that not seeing Apollo's happy face, Ares felt humiliated, angry, and ashamed. All together.  
"But what the hell is Macarena?" Ares asked, wanting to kill Apollo. Although that would be impossible.  
-Macarena dear brother, it's a song. Composition of two of my children, the Mexican duo Los Del Rio. I will sing with them in a show a year from now-said Apolo, as if telling a child how much one is more.  
"And you want me to dance, in the camp, with my kids watching?" Exclaimed the god of war.  
-Smart you-mocked Athena-And we will also see of course. We took advantage and visited our children, I miss my daughters Anelise and Vera.  
-And my hunters will also be there-Said Artemis-They solved a mission near the camp, and will pass there.  
-I'm dying to see my darlings. Except that Zoe-Sweet-Bitter, it's just like you little sister.  
-Apolo how many times will I repeat? Don't call my hunters like that, you didn't get close to them - said Artemis impatiently - And Zoe isn't with them, she's doing something for me, not that it's any of your business. Who is in charge until she returns, is Carla daughter of Hades  
Hades smiled at the mention of his daughter, she was an incredible hunter, she was 14 years old. And he also thought of his other daughters, they were in Hermes' cottage, and they were not well regarded, since writing their children was not accepted at the camp. He also thought of Nico and Bianca, but they were too small to be in the camp yet, and after receiving the prophecy, he thought it best to keep them away.  
-And we will not use playback-Said Apolo excited-Nashla and Eduarda, will sing for us. My girls are incredible.  
-Then it's all settled-said Poseidon-Quiron, go ahead, and let the demigods know, ask Aphrodite's daughters to sew a tutu, the size of a man, and Rosa, and for Apollo's daughters to sing the song.  
Then Quiron bowed and left, galloped, taking care not to be seen. When he arrived at the camp, he was surprised to see everything in order, after all it was the first time that he and Dionísio were out in the same period, he noticed that the ones who were in charge were the Satyrs, and the counselors of each cottage. It was already dark, the sky was covered with stars, and the boys were in their rooms, getting ready for dinner. First he notified Adrodite's cottage, and he barely left and saw them picking up cloths, thread, and needle. Then she went to Hermes' cottage, and called the cottage's advisor, Samara daughter of Thanatos.  
-Quiron is here-announced the girl.  
Everyone got up and remained silent, Hades' daughters were near the door.  
-Quiron! You disappeared, and we didn't know where you were, ”said Carla, daughter of Hades, relieved.  
"Ares' cottage broke our window," complained Carla's sister, Gabriella.  
-Answering both, the window will be fixed. And me and Senhor Dionísio, we will be gone for a while, resolving an issue with the gods.  
-Mr. D going away ?! - Leticia exclaimed contentedly.  
-The daughters of Hades, who should go- Said an indeterminate girl, angry, looking at Leticia and the others.  
-Look here, me and my sisters ...- Said a girl, she was the youngest of Hades' daughters, and also one of the most courageous.  
-Ana Clara-interrupted Quiron-Basta! .What I want to warn is important. The gods will come here tonight.  
-What? - exclaimed Giovanna, she was only two days there, it was indeterminate. He had barely gotten used to it and would he already know the gods?  
Quiron smiled at the girl, he already had a good idea of who her Olympian father would be.  
“What gods?” Asked a black boy named Nick.  
-All Olympians, and Nemesis, Hestia, Hecate, Hades and Persephone. There has been a certain slip of Ares, and your punishment will be here, tonight. Precisely around the fire.  
After notifying all the cottages, there was dinner, which was faster than usual, and loud, everyone wondered what Ares's punishment was. The most curious, were Ares chalet and Hephaestus chalet, one wanting to end the other.  
-I waited years for that moment. Revenge is a dish that is eaten cold !! - Screamed Anne from the Chalet of Hephaestus.  
Then, as soon as the shell sounded, they ran to the fire. The heroes sat around her, and further ahead they placed chairs for the gods. Then the gods appeared, they were walking to the fire, they were the size of humans, but they looked the same, except Artemis who looked like a thirteen-year-old girl. Ares was the last to arrive, he was red, and thinking of a way to escape. Then something strange happened, Giovanna was chatting with her chalet companions, when she noticed that everyone was staring at her, more precisely above her head. Then when he looked, he saw a bright blue light, and an owl, practically disappearing, then just as quickly as it came, it was gone.  
Her mouth was open, she knew what it was, but she couldn't believe it.  
-Giovanna, daughter of Athena goddess of wisdom! - Quiron exclaimed, and everyone paid off. He looked to the side and saw his mother smiling. Mother she had a mother. After everyone calmed down, Ares went to change. When the madness returned it was general, his children were open-mouthed, not understanding anything, dying of anger, those of Hephaestus laughed so much that, they felt like going to the bathroom, the others did not know if they would laugh, they would keep their mouths open, or pass out . But everyone thought the same.  
Vision of hell.  
Ares's red skin gave controversy in the tutu's shock pink. Apolo laughed with emotion, Rosa. How he loved Aphrodite's daughters.  
Ares had a bloody face, all the heroes felt their hatred, they felt like hitting each other, facing the gods. Some even got up, the god also made them see wars, deaths, and a lot of blood.  
-Just enough Ares-Zeus demanded- You can start.  
Reluctantly, but without escape, he approached the fire. The girls from Apolo's chalet, Nashla and Eduarda started to sing.

When I dance they call me Macarena

At first no one understood, but they quickly discovered Ares' punishment. Alas, the riot was general, the demigods laughed so hard, that they could be heard from the hill. Ares did not move at first, but Dionysus showed him people being hanged by vines, drunks committing suicide, black plague, malaria. And it gave the illusion that, Ares was full of wounds. He couldn't take it anymore and started dancing.  
And the boys who say they're happy  
Everyone wants me  
They can't have me  
So everyone comes and dances next to me  
Move with me  
Sing with me  
And if you're good, I'll take you home with me  
He started to dance, putting his left arm forward, and then his right, then crossed his arms, and put them on his head, and gave a little shake at the end. It was as if the music controlled him, and he didn't doubt that.  
As they sang, the heroes were surprised by the lyrics, and the dance of the god of war. The fire was four meters, bright orange, a sign that they were happy. They sang more and more.  
Give your body joy Macarena  
May your body give you joy and good things  
Give your body joy, Macarena  
Hey Macarena  
Now, don't worry about my boyfriend  
The boy whose name is Vitorino,  
I don't want him No  
couldn't stand it  
I was not good for me, ha ha ha ha  
Arrives-shouted Ares stopping dancing. I couldn't take such humiliation, never imagined that I would go through this. He hated Zeus, he hated Apollo who came up with the idea, and worst of all Percy Jackson, it was entirely his fault, a damn puppy.  
-I cursed Percy Jackson-shouted-He cursed before he was even born.  
-Your curse will do nothing-Said Poseidon-Percy will have my blessing. And you are a weakling.  
Give your body joy Macarena  
That your body is to give joy and good thing  
Give your body joy, Macarena  
Hey Macarena

The music finally ended, the atmosphere was heavy, everyone could feel the anger that emanated from each god, the fire was less than a meter, and with a strange black color.  
-I hope you have learned-Said Hades-Never again, try to take our place. He always tried to set us up against each other. But how do mortals say? The spell turned against the sorcerer.  
-Take that face of despair-Said Zeus-You are lucky that we were merciful. Okay, now that we're done, we'll meet at Olympus in three days. Enjoy and solve your problems.  
As soon as Zeus had finished speaking, Ares went up in smoke. Later, the gods discovered that he had disguised himself as a mortal and went to fight in a war. He probably took it out on mortals.


End file.
